Self-assembly of functionalized Pt nanowires

The interest in the synthesis and processing of inorganic colloidal nanomaterials is growing among researchers because of their ability to form 2D and 3D arrays to create a novel material. In this study, we performed, first of all the synthesis of Pt nanowires by electrodeposition using a porous polycarbonate cell. Then, obtained nanowires were functionalized with mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) in order to perform their self-assembly at the water-oil interface. NaCl solution was used as the aqueous phase, while toluene was the oil phase. Different parameters influencing the organization were studied, including pH of the medium and the ionic strength. However, the results and the difficulties of this assembly technique led us to continue the experiments with another method. The last part of the study was thus focused on the drop casting method, which consisted into depositing a droplet of nanowire suspension onto a silicon wafer. Pt nanowires can therefore organize into ordered arrays by solvent evaporation. Similarly as the previous method, various parameters of the assembly technique were explored (evaporation rate, type of solvent used,...). While some of the parameters such as evaporation rate and type of solvent seem to influence the assembly in the way we expected, other ones as pH require further investigations to fully understand the observed organization