Deposition of parallel arrays of palladium nanowires and electrical characterization using microelectrode contacts

In this work palladium nanowires have been synthesized by a template nanomanufacturing technique and their electrical properties have been studied. Freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) was exposed to PdCl₂ solution and cyclic voltametry was used to obtain the deposition of the nanowires on the 'V' shaped grooves of HOPG. The morphology of the nanowires was analysed using an atomic force microscope (AFM) in non-contact mode and the diameter of the observed nanowires was measured to be approximately 250 nm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that the nanowires fabricated by this procedure were parallel and continuous. The deposited nanowires were transferred on a polystyrene film. The microelectrodes required to study the electrical properties have been patterned by silver evaporation and by shadow masking using a 60 μn tungsten wire. The electrical resistance measurements have shown that the array of nanowires is conducting and has resistance of the order of kilo-ohms.