Electrochemical synthesis of freestanding tin nanowires from ionic liquids

In this article, we report on the electrodeposition of tin nanowire arrays from two different ionic liquids, namely, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([EMIm]DCA) and 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide ([Py1,4]DCA). Tin nanowires were synthesized via a template-assisted electrodeposition process using polycarbonate membranes as templates. Gold or copper thin films were sputtered on one side of the track-etched polycarbonate template to make it conductive to be used as a working electrode. In order to have a thicker supporting layer, the electrodeposition process was done in two different ways; the first way was the deposition of Sn on both sides of the membrane, but Sn forms dendrites on the sputtered side so it cannot be used as a supporting layer for the synthesized nanowires. In the second way, Sn nanowires were deposited first through the nonsputtered side in the first step; then, a copper layer was deposited on the sputtered side in another step from 1 M CuCl/[EMIm]DCA.