Synthesis, characterization, and formation mechanism of crystalline cu and ni metallic nanowires under ambient, seedless, surfactantless conditions

In this report, crystalline elemental Cu and Ni nanowires have been successfully synthesized through a simplistic, malleable, solution-based protocol involving the utilization of a U-tube double diffusion apparatus under ambient conditions. The nanowires prepared within the 50 and 200 nm template membrane pore channels maintain diameters ranging from ∼90-230 nm with lengths attaining the micrometer scale. To mitigate for the unwanted but very facile oxidation of these nanomaterials to their oxide analogues, our synthesis mechanism relies on a carefully calibrated reaction between the corresponding metal precursor solution and an aqueous reducing agent solution, resulting in the production of pure, monodisperse metallic nanostructures. These as-prepared nanowires were subsequently characterized from an applications' perspective so as to investigate their optical and photocatalytic properties.