Background: The synthesis of nanowires for future electronics and energy applications requires scalability density reproducibility and cost effectiveness. In this regard template-assisted electrodeposition methods offer distinct advantages for synthesizing nanowires. However the incomplete and unstable growth of nanowires presents a major challenge for such widespread applications. Technology Description: Researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University have devised a method to control the growth instability. By spatially controlling the diffusion of ions across the porous template a self-controlled growth of the nanowires is triggered that can control the growth instability and hence increases the fraction of long nanowires by reducing the length variation between them. In addition to shedding light on a key nanotechnology the results provide fundamental insights into interfacial growth processes in materials science. Applications: 1) Thermoelectric devices 2) Photovoltaic devices 3) Electrochemical energy storage devices 4) Logic circuits 5) Non-volatile memory devices
1) Promotes uniform growth of nanowires 2) Controls instability of nanowires 3) Capable of compartmenting individual nanowires on a large area