Agglomeration of Nanowires on a Substrate for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

An energy criterion is proposed for the level of agglomeration (coalescence) of nanowires fixed at the base on a rigid substrate and immersed in a continuous medium (air, liquid), which excludes capillary phenomena. This criterion, based on the competition between the elastic energy of a bent nanowire and its surface formation energy, can also be applied to the attachment of nanowires to a surface and (in a modified form) to the coalescence of details of micro- and nanomachines. Nanowires for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, obtained by template synthesis based on track membranes, with subsequent removal of polymer, are considered as a specific example.