TEM and EELS studies of electrodeposited antimony nanowires

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR CNRS 8502, Bât. 510, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
² Dynamique des Transferts aux Interfaces, UMR CNRS 6107, Université de Reims, BP 1039, 51687 Reims Cedex 2, France
³ Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux Divisés et des Interfaces, UMR CNRS 8108, Université de Marne la Vallée, 77454 Marne la Vallée Cedex 2, France

Corresponding author: kui.yu@univ-reims.fr

Received: 13 December 2004
Revised: 21 February 2005
Accepted: 25 February 2005
Published online: 27 April 2005

Abstract

Nanowires of antimony (Sb) with diameters ranging from 90 down to 20 nm have been synthesized by electrodeposition within nanoporous polycarbonate membrane. The salient point of the present work is the detailed examination of each wire individually giving evidence of their good quality. The growth morphology, crystalline quality as well as chemical composition of individual nanowires were carried out by combination of various transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. They are single crystals and have homogeneous cylindrical shape. However, a distribution of wire diameters and a roughness of few nanometers on the wire surface have been observed. Chemical analyses using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) confirmed the purity of electrodeposited Sb nanowires, but revealed the existence of an oxidized layer (≤2 nm in width) surrounding the wires.