Conductive pattern, electrical and mechanical characterisation of gold nanorods inside porous alumina template

摘要

Nanowires and nanotubes composed of layered or nonlayered materials have been fabricated via different techniques, among which Anodic Aluminium Oxide (AAO) template-based electrodeposition technology provides a versatile technique for synthesizing one or two-dimensional nanostructured materials. Herein, Conducive Atomic Force Microscopy (CAFM) has been used to image and characterise the nanorods for nanorods with diameter of 50 nm +/- 5. Given that only one previous study using CAFM on gold nanorods exists [1], recording the difficulties encountered with this technique will be of wider interest to the scientific community. This work details experiments on electrical response as a function of applied force on the AFM tip and contamination on the top surface on nanorods. We report a novel observation, revealing a hollow shaped conducive pattern of some of our gold nanorods. This is explained with reference to competing growth rates in horizontal and vertical directions inside the pores.