A Microfluidic Approach for the Formation of Conductive Nanowires and Hollow Hybrid Structures

Abstract

In the last few years, the creation of new 1D single crystalline molecular materials has attracted much attention due to promising applications in fields such as optics and electronics. [1][2][3][4] Much research effort is currently devoted to obtain long nanowires and nanotubes in a reproducible manner. Most approaches to influence the morphology of nanostructures are based on modifications of the chemical composition of the building blocks and optimization of preparative conditions, such as concentrations, solvents, and temperature. Furthermore, in order to obtain high-quality homogeneous micro-and nanostructures from molecular units in solution, a number of deposition techniques has been developed including zone-casting, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films, stamping, electrochemical methods, and thermal evaporation.[5] Although these techniques and their combination facilitate the fabrication of soft-matter devices with low manufacturing costs, large-area coverage on surfaces, and high molecular order, it is still challenging to obtain anisotropic structures and to influence the crystalline structure.Recent studies, however, have indicated that microfluidic systems could provide unique advantages in order to promote the formation of micro-and nanometer-scaled structures. In particular, the formation of crystals and nanoparticles was achieved in microchannels in superior quality due to the excellent handling of small fluid volumes of nano-and even picolitres. [6,7]

Fluidic‐Directed Assembly of Aligned Oligopeptides with π‐Conjugated Cores

“…[ 29,31 ] Recently, microfl uidics have been used to create polymer, [ 32 ] liquid crystal mesogen, [ 33 ] and metal-polymer hybrid 1D structures. [ 34 ] Using a microfl uidic device, we assembled DFAA and DFAG into 1D nanostructures using a planar extensional fl ow generated in a cross-slot geometry. [ 35,36 ] We directly observe that planar extensional fl ow facilitates the consistent formation of one-dimensional synthetic oligopeptide nanostructures at the fl uid interface between a pH buffered monomer stream and an acidic stream ( Figure 2 ).…”

Self-assembly and redox induced phase transfer of gold nanoparticles at a water–propylene carbonate interface

“…The latter is different from the typical rod-like morphology of TTF upon reduction of gold salts. 15,21,22 Particle size and z-potential distributions are presented in Fig. 1E and F. The initial citr@AuNPs solution had a narrow size distribution with a mean diameter of 36 nm, as determined by DLS.…”

Guided assembly of nanowires and their integration in microfluidic devices

“…Here, we present a novel and effective microfluidic strategy, in which synthesis, localization, and direct integration of functional wires are accomplished in situ, and at desired locations inside multilayer microfluidic platforms. Two types of materials are utilized: Hybrid wires made of gold and tetrathiafulvalen (Au-TTF) [5] and nanoscaled coordination polymers (here: copper-aspartic acid) [6,7].…”