Synthesis of ordered Ni nanowire arrays using the template-based electrochemical method

Ni nanowire arrays were synthesized using two simplified template-based electrochemical methods,in which a home-made porous anodic aluminum oxide(AAO) membrane and a commercial Cu-foil-AAO template were used as the template.The length of the prepared Ni nanowires is in micrometer scale while their diameters are 50nm and 200nm.The results of X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscope(SEM) observation show that the prepared Ni nanowires exhibit a face-centered cubic(fcc) structure and are in good order.The above two simplified template techniques can also be employed for the synthesis of ordered nanowire arrays of other metallic materials or alloy.