ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on the pulsed electrodeposition of silver (Ag) into the pores of anodically oxidized alumina (AAO) with the objective of gaining higher nanowire (NW) homogeneity, faster NW growth, and an evaluation of growth kinetics. It demonstrates the feasibility of generating high-aspect-ratio metallic NWs by enhanced pulse plating of Ag into highly ordered pores of AAO. From the kinetic NW growth curve three distinct observations can be made: First, the growth can be significantly accelerated and pushed toward higher length homogeneity by applying pulsed electrodeposition. Second, the filling of nanoscale pores by pulsed electrodeposition is no linear process since the NW length obviously does not increase linearly with time and is better fitted by a parabolic function. Third, the speed of NW growth seems to be dependent on pore depth since the 30 min point is not well fitted by the curve made up by 20 µm membrane.
