Assembly and Densification of Nanowire Arrays via Shrinkage

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 3304 - 3308
• Main Authors: Bang, Jaehoon, Choi, Jonghyun, Xia, Fan, Kwon, Sun Sang, Ashraf, Ali, Park, Won Il, Nam, SungWoo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 11-06-2014
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arrays; Assembly; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Densification; Density; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Materials science; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanowires; Others; Physics; Quantum wires; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Semiconductors; Shape memory; Shrinkage; Various methods and equipments; Nanowire; assembly; transfer; shape memory polymer; shrinkage; Amplification; Shape memory material; Densification; Semiconductor materials; Nanowires; Shrinkage; Arrays; Nanostructured materials; Close packing; Nanobiotechnology; Nanoelectronics
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl500709p

Chemically synthesized semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have demonstrated substantial promise for nanoelectronics, nanoenergy, and nanobiotechnology, but the lack of an effective and controllable assembly process has limited the wide adoption of NWs in these areas. Here we demonstrate a facile, robust, and controllable approach to assembling and densifying a parallel array of NWs using shrinkable shape memory polymers. Using thermal-induced shrinkage of polystyrene, we were able to successfully assemble and densify NW arrays up to close-packing and, furthermore, achieve tunable density (up to ∼300% amplification of density) by controlling the shrinkage process. We also demonstrate scalable assembly and densification of NWs on a 2.5 × 6 inch scale to explore the manufacturability of the shrink-induced assembly process. Finally, we demonstrate the successful transfer of the shrink-assembled NW arrays onto various 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional substrates without compromising the integrity of NW assembly and density.