Synthesis and modelling of the mechanical properties of Ag, Au and Cu nanowires

Ruthenium complex based nanocomposite film with enhanced and selective electrochemical sensing of bifenthrin pesticide

Bifenthrin (BF), a widely used pyrethroid pesticide in farming, lacks highly sensitive and selective sensors despite its extensive application. Ruthenium complexes are very effective for selective sensing applications but suffer from structural instability at elevated conditions, electrochemical activity, and the use of costly electrolytes. This work improves their electrochemical activity and mechanical strength by incorporating silver nanowires and replacing the costly electrolyte with abundant KCl + PBS, resulting in enhanced signal performance. Herein, a ruthenium complex containing composite film was immobilized on a platinum (Pt) electrode using Langmuir Blodgett technique. The fabricated sensor has been characterized by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) based electrochemical technique. The BF pesticide sensing parameters, including the limit of detection (LOD), linear range (LR), and sensitivity, were evaluated using SWV, DPV, and CV techniques. Among these, the DPV technique demonstrated the best performance, achieving a sensitivity of 0.648 μA cm-2 μM-1, a LR of 1-10 μM, and a LOD of 1 μM. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values using DPV are found to be 6.3% (repeatability study), 3% (reproducibility study), 8% (metal ion interference), 5% (organic species interference), and 2% (real sample study), which are much lesser than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of RSD value on the pesticide (i.e. 20%). The BF sensor demonstrated a selectivity of 2× difference of peak height response compared to similar pesticides. The reported pesticide sensor will open new options for sensor research using metal complex-based LB film nanocomposite.

Metal nanowire-based transparent electrode for flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices

High-quality transparent electrodes are indispensable components of flexible optoelectronic devices as they guarantee sufficient light transparency and electrical conductivity. Compared to commercial indium tin oxide, metal nanowires are considered ideal candidates as flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) owing to their superior optoelectronic properties, excellent mechanical flexibility, solution treatability, and higher compatibility with semiconductors. However, certain key challenges associated with material preparation and device fabrication remain for the practical application of metal nanowire-based electrodes. In this review, we discuss state-of-the-art solution-processed metal nanowire-based FTEs and their applications in flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices. Specifically, the important properties of FTEs and a cost-benefit analysis of existing technologies are introduced, followed by a summary of the synthesis strategy, key properties, and fabrication technologies of the nanowires. Subsequently, we explore the applications of metal-nanowire-based FTEs in different optoelectronic devices including solar cells, photodetectors, and light-emitting diodes. Finally, the current status, future challenges, and emerging strategies in this field are presented.

Recent progress on the synthesis of metal alloy nanowires as electrocatalysts

Benefiting from both one-dimensional (1D) morphology and alloy composition, metal alloy nanowires have been exploited as advanced electrocatalysts in various electrochemical processes. In this review, the synthesis approaches for metal alloy nanowires are classified into two categories: direct syntheses and syntheses based on preformed 1D nanostructures. Ligand systems that are of critical importance to the formation of alloy nanowires are summarized and reviewed, together with the strategies imposed to achieve the co-reduction of different metals. Meanwhile, different scenarios that form alloy nanowires from pre-synthesized 1D nanostructures are compared and contrasted. In addition, the characterization and electrocatalytic applications of metal alloy nanowires are briefly discussed.

The physical and optical investigations of the tannic acid functionalised Cu-based oxide nanostructures

The need for a mild, low-cost, green environment that is able to produce exotic properties of output nanostructures is appealing nowadays. Employing these requirements, the copper (Cu)-based oxide nanostructures have been successfully synthesised via one-pot reaction using biocompatible natural polyphenol, tannic acid (TA) as both the reducing agent and stabiliser at 60, 70 and 80 °C. The structural and optical studies disclosed the effect of TA on the surface morphology, phase purity, elemental composition, optical microstrain and optical intrinsic energy of this mixed Cu₂O and CuO nanostructures. The optically based method describes the comparative details of the multi-band gap in the presence of more than one element with overlapping spectra from the first-derivative absorbance curve [Formula: see text] and the exponential absorbance of Urbach tail energy [Formula: see text] towards the conventional Tauc bandgap. The [Formula: see text] demonstrates that the pronounced effect of TA that Cu₂O and CuO nanostructures creates much sensitive first-derivative bandgap output compared to the Tauc bandgap. The results also show that the [Formula: see text] reduced as the temperature reaches 70 °C and then experienced sudden increase at 80 °C. The change in the pattern is parallel to the trend observed in the Williamson-Hall microstrain and is evident from the variations of the mean crystallite size [Formula: see text] which is also a cause response to the change in temperature or pH. Therefore, the current work has elucidated that the structural and optical correlations on the as-synthesised Cu₂O and CuO nanostructures in the presence of TA were the combined reaction of pH change and the ligand complexation reactions. The acquired results suggest a more comprehensive range of studies to further understand the extent relationship between the physical and optical properties of TA functionalised Cu-based oxide nanostructures.

Regioselective fabrication of gold nanowires using open-space laminar flow for attomolar protein detection

Gold nanowires are expected to be applied to biosensing due to their advantages, such as high stability and biocompatibility. However, it is still inconvenient to fabricate a single gold nanowire at a precise position, and without a special demanding environment. In this study, we present an open-space laminar flow approach for fabricating a single gold nanowire at a precise position under normal conditions. The fabricated gold nanowire demonstrated excellent biosensing of IgA with an extremely low limit of detection (1 aM).

Anisotropic Growth of Copper Nanorods Mediated by Cl- Ions

Anisotropic growth to form Cu particles of rod and wire shapes has been obtained typically in a complex system that involves both organic capping agents and Cl- ions. However, the sole effect of Cl- ions on the formation of Cu wires has yet to be fully understood, especially in an organic system. This present work determines the effect of Cl- ions on the morphologies of Cu particles in an organic phase without any capping agents. The results revealed that anisotropic Cu rods could be grown with the sole presence of Cl- ions. The rods have the (011) facets as the long axis, the (111) facets as the tip, and the (100) facets as the side surface. By increasing the Cl- ion concentration, more Cu atoms contributed to the formation of Cu rods and the kinetic growth of the length and the diameter of the rods varied. This suggests that Cl- ions have preferential adsorption on the (100) Cu surfaces to promote the anisotropic growth of Cu. Meanwhile, the adsorption of Cl- to the (111) and (100) surfaces at high Cl- concentrations regulates the relative growth of the particle length and diameter.

Polarization-dependent optical band gap energy of aligned semiconducting titanium oxide nanowire deposits

Thin deposits of aligned semiconducting titanium oxide and of zinc oxide nanowires are prepared by grazing incidence spraying on transparent substrates. By measuring the transmittance of linearly polarized light of these anisotropic assemblies as compared to that of randomly oriented nanowires and of spherical nanoparticles, we find that titanium oxide nanowires exhibit an orientation-dependent variation of the apparent optical band gap energy at room temperature (>100 meV), depending on the direction of the polarization of the light with respect to the direction of alignment of the nanowires.

Hollow aluminum microspheres with high mass extinction coefficients in the long wave infrared

Previous electromagnetic computations of multilayered dielectric/metallic spheres identified the ideal dimensions and composition for achieving optimized mass extinction coefficients (m²/g). A hollow metallic sphere, with a thin metallic shell, is one such example of a spherical structure that can theoretically achieve high mass extinction coefficients in the long wave infrared (LWIR) region (8-12 µm). To this end, we endeavored to demonstrate a cost-effective and scalable manufacturing approach for synthesizing and experimentally validating the mass extinction coefficients of hollow metallic spheres. Specifically, we detail a novel approach for fabricating hollow aluminum spheres using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputter deposition. Sacrificial high-density polyethylene polymer microspheres were used as substrates for the deposition of thin layers of aluminum. The core shell structures were subsequently thermally processed to form the hollow micron sized aluminum shells. The mass extinction coefficients of the hollow aluminum spheres were subsequently measured and compared to computational results. A strong agreement between experimental and theoretical predictions was observed. Finally, the LWIR mass extinction coefficients of the hollow spheres were compared to high aspect ratio brass flakes, a common pigment used for LWIR attenuation, and other materials and geometries that are used for LWIR filtering applications. This comparison of both performance and availability revealed that the fabricated hollow aluminum spheres exhibited competitive LWIR properties using a more scalable and cost-effective manufacturing approach.

A modified method for elastic properties of nanowires based on surface effect

In this paper, a modified method for predicting surface effect parameters based on experimental data is developed using the surface effect theory. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanowires with diameters in a range of 100 nm - 320 nm are manufactured by electrospinning. The data of the effective elastic moduli of PAN nanowire varying with diameters are obtained by experimenting with contact atomic-force microscopy (C-AFM). It was found that the effective Young's modulus of nanowires increased with the diameter of the nanowires decreases. The validity of the method in this paper are confirmed by comparing with the existing work. By taking into account the effect of surface energy on the bending, the deviation of the prediction of surface effect parameters in the existing work is solved. The current results will also be useful for predicting nanowire surface effect parameters and be helpful for the design of nanostructures and nanodevices related to nanowires.

Mechanical properties of gold nanowires prepared by nanoskiving approach

The nanoskiving method based on nanocutting process is a new, low cost and easy way to machine nanowires. In this study, this technique is used to machine Au nanowires with different cutting directions and depths. Young's modulus and the yield strength of nanowires are then measured by an atomic force microscope-based three-point bending test. Results show that the Young's modulus of nanowires is independent of size and is not affected by cutting directions. However, the yield strength of nanowires machined by parallel cutting (NWs-b) is 42-64% higher than that machined by perpendicular cutting (NWs-a).

Atomistic treatment of periodic gold nanowire array nanofasteners under shear loading

Comprehensive molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to unravel the mechanics and mechanisms associated with the strength and fracture behavior of a highly ordered gold nanowire (Au-NW) array of a pair of nanofasteners (nanoconnectors) under externally applied shear strain. Large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS and embedded atom method were adopted to model the atomic interactions of a number of neighboring nanofasteners. This was affected via the use of a periodic simulation box around a pair of highly ordered nanotube arrays to minimize the cost of the computations. Energy minimization using a conjugate gradient algorithm was first performed and followed by atomic relaxation to achieve an equilibrated configuration under the canonical ensemble of constant temperature and volume. The relaxed equilibrated configuration of the nanofastener was then subjected to an externally applied shear strain [Formula: see text] at a rate of [Formula: see text] per nanosecond under the canonical ensemble. Our results reveal the importance of the morphology and the overlap depth of the mating nanowire arrays upon the mechanical and fracture behavior of the nanofastener under shear loading. Our work also disclosed the phenomenon of multiple contacts of some displaced nanowires with their neighbors even after their fracture leading to multiple cold-welds with added redundancy to the nanofastener. Finally, in this research, we identified the locations of dislocation emissions and the resulting fracture processes that govern the mechanical integrity and ultimately the functionality of the Au-NW connector. The proposed highly ordered alignment, as conceived numerically herein, can yield a peak stress two to three times higher than that corresponding to a random alignment reported in a previous study. The Au-NW connector also exhibited resistance to fracture, even in cases where small overlap depth is considered in joint bonding. The nanoconnector was also tested at high temperatures (up to 450 K). Our results show that the rising temperature only leads to a minor reduction in the load transmitted by the nanoconnector.

Silver Nanowire Networks: Mechano-Electric Properties and Applications

With increasing technological demand for portable electronic and photovoltaic devices, it has become critical to ensure the electrical and mechano-electric reliability of electrodes in such devices. However, the limited flexibility and high processing costs of traditional electrodes based on indium tin oxide undermine their application in flexible devices. Among various alternative materials for flexible electrodes, such as metallic/carbon nanowires or meshes, silver nanowire (Ag NW) networks are regarded as promising candidates owing to their excellent electrical, optical, and mechano-electric properties. In this context, there have been tremendous studies on the physico-chemical and mechano-electric properties of Ag NW networks. At the same time, it has been a crucial job to maximize the device performance (or their mechano-electric performance) by reconciliation of various properties. This review discusses the properties and device applications of Ag NW networks under dynamic motion by focusing on notable findings and cases in the recent literature. Initially, we introduce the fabrication (deposition process) of Ag NW network-based electrodes from solution-based coating processes (drop casting, spray coating, spin coating, etc.) to commercial processes (slot-die and roll-to-roll coating). We also discuss the electrical/optical properties of Ag NW networks, which are governed by percolation, and their electrical contacts. Second, the mechano-electric properties of Ag NW networks are reviewed by describing individual and combined properties of NW networks with dynamic motion under cyclic loading. The improved mechano-electric properties of Ag NW network-based flexible electrodes are also discussed by presenting various approaches, including post-treatment and hybridization. Third, various Ag NW-based flexible devices (electronic and optoelectronic devices) are introduced by discussing their operation principles, performance, and challenges. Finally, we offer remarks on the challenges facing the current studies and discuss the direction of research in this field, as well as forthcoming issues to be overcome to achieve integration into commercial devices.