Fabrication of Vertically Aligned Arrays of Metal Nanorods and Nanotubes by Template-Based Electrodeposition Method

The template-based electrodeposition method consists of two main steps.At first, a nonconductive nanoporous template is created and then a metal is electroplated into the nanopores of the template.The template is created by anodic oxidation of aluminium, which can be in the form of an electropolished foil or vapour deposited or sputtered film on a conductive layer.If the anodic oxidation proceeds under very specific conditions (anodizing voltage, temperature, electrolyte composition, etc.) the resulting alumina layer is comprised of a hexagonal array of cells with cylindrical nanopores.The nanoporous alumina structure is then used as the template during the following electroplating process.The conductive layer on the bottom of the alumina template serves as the working electrode and metal ions are attracted to the conductive substrate through the nanopores and deposit in the form of solid metal.After filling the nanopores with the metal, the template is dissolved in a suitable solvent and metal nanostructures are obtained.The created nanostructures are then analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).It has been found that both nanorods and nanotubes can be created by the single template-based method.The type of nanostructure is given by electroplating conditions and the size of the nanopores in the template.