Copper Nanowires, Nanotubes, and Hierarchical Nanopatterns: One-Dimensional Architectures using Ion Track Etched Templates

A high amount of publications about syntheses and application prospects for nanometer sized copper and the related oxide materials have been denoted during the last decades. This is most notably due to their amazing physical and chemical properties compared to the bulk material which result out of their high surface area to volume ratio. Particularly, their applicability in the new design of electronic and optical devices seems to be quite forward-looking. However, most of the application prospects require shapes with accurate dimensions and geometries. To meet the requirements, the preparation process by using ion track etched polycarbonate foils is very advantageous. Here, foils are irradiated with heavy ions in order to produce stochastically distributed tracks which are chemically etched to pores of desired diameters. Afterwards, the pores are filled with copper by either electrodeposition or chemical plating techniques. We investigated the availability of differently-shaped one-dimensional nanomaterials by applying diverse etch procedures in order to achieve symmetric and asymmetric pore cavities of the template. Furthermore, the availability of hierarchical cuprite structures by chemical treatment of produced wires is reported.