Silver nanowires electrodeposited into nanoporous templates: Study of the influence of sizes on crystallinity and structural properties

In this work, results on the study of the influence of silver nanowire dimensions on the crystallinity and structural properties are presented. Silver nanowire arrays with high aspect ratios were prepared in the hollow structures of nanoporous templates using potentiostatic electrodeposition. Two types of material were employed as a template: commercial porous anodic aluminum oxide (with a mean pore diameter of 180 nm) and track-etched polycarbonate membranes (with a mean pore diameter of 15, 30 and 80 nm). Characterization of the silver nanowires has been done by EDS, XRD, TEM and electron diffraction. The degree of preferred crystallographic orientation (along the (1 1 1), (2 0 0) or (2 2 0) crystallographic planes) and the crystallite size of the silver nanowires as a function of template pore diameter are given and discussed.