A facile method of fabricating PbBi alloy nanowires with controlled component proportion

The ability of controlled component proportion for metallic alloy nanowires is still rather limited even after well over a decade of intensive research efforts. Here, a very simple method of high temperature melting in the pores of anodic aluminum oxide templates is developed to fabricate low melting point metallic alloy nanowires, in which the component proportion of elements can be controlled by adjusting electrodeposition time in the separate electrolytes. Taking the fabrication of PbBi alloy nanowires as example, we show how to control the uniform composition and component proportion of metallic alloy nanowires. The PbBi alloy nanowire arrays with three different atomic ratios of Bi-10 at.%, 30 at.%, 80 at.% respectively are successfully fabricated. The morphologies and composition of PbBi alloy nanowires are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy equipped with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy analyzer, and the crystal structures are determined by X-ray diffractometer. These results of experiments indicate that the composition controllable and homogeneous alloy nanowire arrays can be synthesized using this new method.