Shape-controlled synthesis of palladium and copper superlattice nanowires for high-stability hydrogen sensors.

For hydrogen sensors built with pure Pd nanowires, the instabilities causing baseline drifting and temperature-driven sensing behavior are limiting factors when working within a wide temperature range. To enhance the material stability, we have developed superlattice-structured palladium and copper nanowires (PdCu NWs) with random-gapped, screw-threaded, and spiral shapes achieved by wet-chemical approaches. The microstructure of the PdCu NWs reveals novel superlattices composed of lattice groups structured by four-atomic layers of alternating Pd and Cu. Sensors built with these modified NWs show significantly reduced baseline drifting and lower critical temperature (259.4 K and 261 K depending on the PdCu structure) for the reverse sensing behavior than those with pure Pd NWs (287 K). Moreover, the response and recovery times of the PdCu NWs sensor were of ~9 and ~7 times faster than for Pd NWs sensors, respectively.

Growth and characterization of branched carbon nanostructures arrays in nano-patterned surfaces from porous silicon substrates.

A method to grow branched carbon nanostructures arrays is presented. We employ the electron-beam-induced deposition method using a transmission electron microscope in poor vacuum conditions where hydrocarbons are present in the chamber. The hydrocarbons are attracted to the substrates by the local electric fields. Saw-tooth nano-patterns were made with a focused ion beam in porous silicon substrates with high porosity in order to create sites with high-local electric fields. We found that the adequate ion dose to create well-defined saw-tooth nano-patterns was between 8 and 10 nC/microm(2). Raman and electron energy-loss spectroscopy on the branched carbon nanostructures show a high concentration of sp(2) sites suggesting that they are made of graphite-like hydrogenated amorphous carbon. Selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution images and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) are also presented.