Growth Kinetics of Nickel Crystals in Nanopores

The well-controlled synthesis of perfect and homogeneous nanowires requires a fundamental understanding of their growth kinetics. In the present study, we succeeded in Studying for the first time the growth kinetics of electrodeposited Ni crystals in nanopores by employing the temperature-dependent rate constants yielded from deposition current-time curves. A small growth activation energy E-a = 0.25 +/- 0.01 eV and prefactor t(E.0)(-1) = 4.5 +/- 0.3 s(-1) are determined for the Ni crystals in 25 nm diameter pores, and they increase with the pore diameter following the Meyer-Neldel compensation rule. Oil the basis of these Studies, the growth mechanism of electrodeposited Ni nanowires has been revealed.