The Future Of Electrical Conductors – Gold Nano Wires
The Nano technological advancements have essentially made this world a much larger place, quite literally. This can be attributed to the minute size of nano particles, which is around 10-9 metres. The small size enables these Nano materials to fit in various fields of study, including conductors, mechanical devices, etc. They are integral in reducing the size of an object considerably and make efficient use of the available resource without sacrificing any necessary characteristics of the object.
It was found that few materials when shrunk into the size of a nanometre, exhibited unique properties. Elements such as carbon displayed very unique properties and on further research it was found that these properties could be retained even outside the laboratory controlled conditions. This laid the basis for use of nanomaterials in scientific studies and applications.
Gold Nano Wires Are Fast Replacing The Traditional Conductors Like Copper
In fields like sensors, wave guides and Photonics, the nanomaterials have an important job. The form of nanomaterial used is metal or Gold Nanowires, which are essentially the building blocks in above mentioned applications and finds its purpose in more of such applications.
These wires have a diameter of around 80 nanometre and are almost 10 microns long. The Gold Nanowires are manufactured using the wet chemical approach. The reactants are cis-oleylamine, and they use gold chloride (AuCl) as a precursor.
Cis-oleylamine reduces gold ions, and these gold ions formed a complex with oleylamine in a process called aurophillic reaction, forming very thin nanowires. Processes such as Electro chemical deposition method, traditional litographical methods, electrophoresis and solution method are used.
These nano wires are one dimensional with length to width ratios as high as 1000. This characteristic feature makes the electrons confine laterally in space and therefore different from the way they are traditionally arranged, thus causing radical change in the properties of the material.
The Applications Of These Metal Based Nanowires Are Plenty
Although the applications of these metallic nanowires are still being investigated in the confines of the laboratory. The electric applications include the use of the nanowires in the diodes and junctions. It is found that nanowires are suitable agents for dielectrophoretic manipulation.
A nanowire battery application is being researched upon and the study has yielded positive results. In this battery, nanowires are used to increase the surface area of the electrodes. This battery has the capability of replacing a lithium ion battery or the regular anodic graphite battery and increase the overall performance of the battery.
Nano wires, albeit their high performance and their essentially unique properties, a few questions regarding the production of the metal nanowires and intrinsic electrical and physical properties, still pose as a great challenge to the scientists. The nano wire’s rather impressive impact on the electrical resistance is one of the frequently researched topics. But regardless of the negatives and a few issues, it is intriguing to find how the world in macroscale is influenced phenomenally by the nano-scale world.
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