Controlled synthesis of one-dimensional Au-Ag porous nanostructures

The fabrication of a new type of one-dimensional Au-Ag porous nanotube (NPT) structure was presented based on a facile combination of nanocrystal growth and surface modification. Ag nanowires with various diameters were firstly served as the chemical plating templates via a polyol-process. Then, one-dimensional (1D) Au-Ag porous nanostructures with tailored structural features could be prepared by controlling the individual steps involved in this process, such as nanowire growth, surface modification, thermal diffusion, and dealloying. Structural characterizations reveal these Au-Ag porous nanotubes, non-porous nanotubes and porous nanowires possess novel nano-architectures with multimodal open porosity and excellent structural continuity and integrity, which make them particularly desirable as novel 1D nanocarriers for biomedical, drug delivery and sensing applications.