Although nanowires are answering the demands of the market for innovative, smaller, flexible electronic devices by enabling electronic circuits on the molecular scale, assembly of nanowires into functional materials remains a problem.
Group of researchers from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania are offering a novel solution for high-yield nanowire production from zinc oxide – cheaper and environmentally friendlier material, compared to the rare earth elements such as indium, arsenic or gallium often used in electronics production.
According to scientists, nanowires’ synthesis is mostly limited by the surface of growth, hindering their wide application. Also, many applications require properties, which are contradictive and therefore cannot be effectively realised in a single material. The new method for zinc oxide nanowires production, created by the group of scientists from KTU Institute of Materials Science, tackles these problems. Thus the wider application of nanowires in innovative electronic devices, which are increasingly smaller, flexible and involving different surface materials is becoming possible.
“The new method was created while I was researching simple ways to grow metal oxide nanostructures. The method, which we now call combustion synthesis, allows producing high levels of a controlled nanostructure. Nanowires are being grown in the gas phase, the final product collected as powder and then dispersed in various solutions. Simple coating methods such as spraying allow placing zinc oxide nanowires on various surfaces”, says Dr Simas Račkauskas, a researcher at the KTU Institute of Materials Science.
Credit: “Zinc oxide nanowires – novel solution for cheaper, cleaner production of electronic components”
