Synthesis of Polymer

Nanowires
 Outline


Introduction

Why Nanowires?

Synthesis Techniques

Advantages

Applications

Challenges
 Introduction

 1D nanostructures can also exhibit critical device function, and

thus can be exploited as both the wiring and device
elements in future architectures for functional nanosystems
 Diameter of nanowires range from a single atom to a few
hundreds of nanometers
 Length varies from a few atoms to many microns
 Different name of nanowires in literature:

Whiskers, fibers
Nanowires
Nanorods
NanoContacts
 Why Nanowires?

Single-walled NTs have been used to fabricate field effect

transistors, diodes, and logic circuits.

Problems with Nanotubes to made devices:


Difficulties to control whether building blocks are
semiconducting or metallic
Difficulties in manipulating individual NTs

 Synthesis Techniques


Spontaneous growth:
Evaporation condensation
Dissolution condensation
Vapor-Liquid-Solid growth (VLS)
Stress induced re-crystallization

Template-based synthesis:
Electrochemical deposition
Electrophoretic deposition
Colloid dispersion, melt, or solution filling
Conversion with chemical reaction

Electro-spinning

Lithography (top-down)
 Evaporation Condensation


Referred to as Vapor-Solid (VS) technique.


Nanowires and nanorods grown by this method are commonly
single crystals with fewer imperfections


The formation of nanowires or nanorods is due to the
anisotropic growth.


The general idea is that the different facets in a crystal have
different growth rates


There is no control on the direction of growth of nanowire in
this method
 Contd..

Mesoporous, single-crystal ZnO nanowires.

 Vapour Liquid Solid Growth (VLS)

General Idea:
A second phase material, commonly referred to as
catalyst, is introduces to direct and confine the crystal
growth on a specific orientation and within a confined
area.

Catalyst forms a liquid droplet by itself

Acts as a trap for growth species

The growth species is evaporated first and then
diffuses and dissolves into a liquid droplet

It precipitates at the interface between the
substrate and the liquid
 VLS

Growth species in the catalyst droplets subsequently precipitates at the growth

surface resulting in the one-directional growth
 VLS

A Non-Traditional Vapor-Liquid-Solid Method for Bulk Synthesis of Semiconductor Nanowires

http://www.cvd.louisville.edu/Publications/recentpublications/proceedings_mrs_fall2001.pdf
 Template Base Synthesis


This is the very general method


Use in fabrication of nanorods, nanowires, and nanotubes of
polymers, metals, semiconductors, and oxides.


Some porous membrane with nano-size channels (pores) are
used as templates from conduct the growing of nanowires


Pore size ranging from 10 nm to 100 mm can be achieved.
 Contd..

• The diameter of the nanowires is determined by the

geometrical constraint of the pores

• Fabrication of suitable templates is clearly a critical first

step
 Contd..

A porous Template Nanowire array

 Template Base Synthesis


Use wire-like nanostructures, such as DNA and carbon
nanotubes as templates

DNA is an excellent choice as a template to fabricate
nanowires because its diameter is ~2 nm and its length and
sequence can be precisely controlled

Nanowires are formed on the outer surface of the templates

Diameter of the nanowires is not restricted by the template
sizes and can be controlled by adjusting the amount of
materials deposited on the templates

Removing the templates after deposition, wire-like and tube-
like structures can be formed
 DNA Based Template

Fix a DNA strand between two electrical contacts

Exposed to a solution containing some ions
Ions bind to DNA and are then form some nanoparticles
decorating along the DNA chain
 Advantages


NW devices can be assembled in a rational and predictable

because:
Nanowires can be precisely controlled during synthesis,


chemical composition,


diameter,


Length,


doping/electronic properties



Reliable methods exist for their parallel assembly

It is possible to combine distinct NW building blocks in ways not
possible in conventional electronics.
 Applications

The most important application of nanowires in

nanoelectronics is using them as junctions or as
multi-segment nanowires or crossed nanodevices.

Potential application of nanowires is in:


very dense logic

dense memory

optoelectronics

sensing devices
 Advancement


Single electron memory cells consume extremely low
power and can be realized


Important components of such a device are a silicon
nanowire as a channel, a silicon nanodot as a storage
node, and a silicon nanogate as a control gate


To realize these memory devices, narrow Si NWs need
to be generated
 OUTLINE:
CONDUCTING POLYMER NANOWIRES
INTRODUCTION

DIFFERENT PROCESS
In the early 1990s, Martin and co-
TEMPLATE PROCESS workers introduced the fabrication
of various conducting polymer
nanowires.
ADVANTAGES

APPLICATIONS

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION:

 The advancement of nanotechnology provides opportunities

for fabrication of nanoscale materials and higher performance
devices using nanomaterials with high precision.
 Currently, various nanomaterials and nanostructures in the
range of 1 to 100 nm have been produced by chemical and
physical methods.
 Among various nanostructured materials,one-dimensional (1D)
materials, such as nanowires, nanotubes, nanorods, and
nanobelts, have potential applications in nanoscale electronics,
optoelectronics, photonics, sensors, and solar cells due to their
unique electrical, chemical, and optical properties.
 Conducting polymers, such as polypyrrole, polyaniline,
polythiophene, and their derivatives, are promising materials
for synthesis of nanostructured materials.

 Compared with other materials, conducting polymers have

some unique electrical, chemical, and optical properties
because of their conjugated structures, and they are easily
synthesized using chemical or electrochemical synthetic
methods at room temperatures with low cost.
 DIFFERENT STEPS :

 Many different fabrication methods have been

applied to making conducting polymer nanowires.
These methods include -
E-beam lithography, focused
ion-beam etching, dip-pen lithography, electro-
spinning, DNA scaffolding, mechanical break
junction, hydrodynamically focused stream, and
nanopore template.
 Template method

 The template method has been widely used to fabricate

1D conducting polymer nanostructures such as
nanowires and nanotubes because of its simplicity,
versatility, and controllability.

Two types: -Hard Template

-Soft Template
 Hard Template:

• Martin and co-workers introduced the fabrication of

various conducting polymer nanowires such as
polypyrrole, polyaniline, poly(3-methylthiophene),
and polyacetylene using a nanoporous polycarbonate
and aluminium oxide template. Figure 1 shows SEM
images of these nanowires and their templates
Fig 1. Conducting polymer nanowires and template from early research by Martin and
coworkers. SEM images of (a) polycarbonate and (b) the template AAO (Anodic
aluminium oxide) and of (c) polyaniline and (d) polyacetylene nanowires.
• These polymers are electrochemically or chemically
polymerized from corresponding monomers using an
oxidizing agent (Martin, 1994). This process is composed of
simple steps:
• 1) Fill nanopores of the membrane with monomers,
• 2) Polymerize the monomers inside the nanopores, and
• 3)Remove the nanopore template to obtain pure polymers.

In some cases, polymer nanowires can be destroyed or damaged

because the template removal process entails harsh conditions.
AAO, one of the most widely used nano templates.
 SOFT TEMPLATE

• The soft-template method which is also called the self-assembly

method typically uses surfactants or DNA as templates. This
method has the advantage of a simple fabrication process, and
the template removal process is achieved under mild conditions.
• Surfactants offer a representative soft template because of their
self-assembly ability. Wan et al. (1998) accidentally discovered
that polyaniline nanowires could be synthesized by in-situ
doping polymerization in the presence of β-naphthalene sulfonic
acid (β-NSA) as the dopant without the need to use any
membrane as a hard template.
• Figure 2. shows examples of conducting polymer nanowires
fabricated using surfactant as a template-

SEM Images of conducting polymer nanowires using surfactant as a template; (a)

polypyrrole nanowires (Zhang et al., 2006); (b) dendric polyaniline nanowires (Li & Zhang,
2004).
 ADVANTAGES:

 Polymer nanowires have important advantages for industrial

applications in comparison with nanowires made from
inorganic materials. Because they are extremely flexible and
are also optically transparent.
 Nanodevices have attracted attention because new functions
that were not possible with conventional devices can be
obtained by utilizing the quantum size effect, which is first
manifested when the size of a device is reduced to its ultimate
limit.
 With the conventional technique, polymer nanowires were
extracted from the mold by etching (dissolving) the mold with
a strong chemical agent, and it was only possible to use
polymers that would not be damaged by the chemical.
 APPLICATIONS:

• Biomedical Applications of Conducting Polymer

Nanowires
– Sensing and Detection
• Proteins and Disease Markers
• Detection of Bacteria
• Detection of Small Molecules
• Detection of Heavy-Metal Ions and Pesticides
– Drug Delivery and DNA Carriers
• It having wide application is expected in new
nanodevice fields such as sensors, light-emitting
devices, optical switch devices.

• Conducting polymer nanowire based immunosensors-

- Nanoimmunosensor for bacteriophages
- Nanoimmunosensor for spores
APPLICATION:
 CONCLUSION

-Since Martin and co-workers

first reported conducting polymer nanowires, which
were synthesized using nanopore templates, various
fabrication methods have been developed. Template
methods consist of a simple synthesis process to
produce nanowires and can control the size of
nanowires by adjusting the nanopore of templates.
Template and electro-spinning methods are possible
options to fabricate nanowires with high yield and low
cost.
 REFERENCES

• Alam, M. M., Wang, J., Guo, Y., Lee, S. P. & Tseng, H. R. (2005). Electrolyte gated
transistors
• based on conducting polymer nanowire junction arrays, J. Phys. Chem. B 109:
12777.
• Aleshin, A. N. (2006). Polymer nanofibers and nanotubes: Charge transport and
device
• applications, Adv. Mater. 18: 17–27.
• Bangar, M. A., Shirale, D. J., Chen, W., Myung, N. V. & Mulchandani, A. (2009).
Single
• conducting polymer nanowire chemiresistive label-free immunosensor for cancer
• biomarker, Anal. Chem. 81(6): 2168–2175.
• Berdichevsky, Y. & Lo, Y.-H. (2006). Polypyrrole nanowire actuators, Adv. Mater.
18: 122–
Thank You!!!