Electrodeposition and electroless plating of hierarchical metal superstructures composed of 1D nano- and microscale building blocks
By Falk Muench and Eva-Maria Felix and Markus Rauber and Sandra Schaefer and Markus Antoni and Ulrike Kunz and Hans-Joachim Kleebe and Christina Trautmann and Wolfgang Ensinger
Published in Electrochimica Acta
2016
Abstract
The fabrication of ordered superstructures composed of nano- and microscale building blocks is of tremendous interest. In this work, we present a versatile approach for the synthesis of hierarchical and free-standing metal architectures of high structural complexity. Using the ion-track etching technique, hierarchically porous polycarbonate membranes are obtained, which are employed as nanocasting templates. Pore filling is accomplished by the two complementary wet-chemical techniques electrodeposition and electroless plating. Depending on the pore filling mechanism and the template structure, a wide range of novel metal nano-/micro-architectures can be realized. The products can be characterized as hierarchical assemblies of 1D structures (nanotubes, nanowires, microwires, nanorods). With electrodeposition, complete pore filling is achieved, which results in the formation of wire-based morphologies. Special attention is dedicated to the controlled partial filling of the pores with electroless plating, which allows the simultaneous deposition of tubes and