Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2025
12:35
Atomically Traceable Nanostructure Fabrication
Published on: July 17, 2015
8.6K
Tuning 3-D Nanomaterial Architectures Using Atomic Layer Deposition to Direct Solution Synthesis.
Alondra M Ortiz-Ortiz1, Daniel O Delgado Cornejo2, Ashley R Bielinski1,3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States.
Accounts of Chemical Research
|April 21, 2025
Summary
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) enables surface-directed assembly for synthesizing nanoarchitected materials with tunable geometries on complex surfaces. This method overcomes limitations of traditional techniques, paving the way for scalable nanomanufacturing.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Controlling functional properties of materials requires synthesizing nanoarchitectures with tunable geometries.
- Existing bottom-up and top-down synthesis methods often involve challenging prepatterning or etching steps, limiting scalability to nonplanar substrates.
- Precise control over feature spacing and orientation in hierarchical nanomaterial arrays remains a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present surface-directed assembly, utilizing Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for guided nanomaterial growth.
- To demonstrate the synthesis of architected structures with tunable geometries on complex, nonplanar surfaces.
- To explore the use of ALD seed layers and conversion chemistry for diverse nanostructure fabrication.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) to create surface modification layers that direct nanomaterial geometry.
- Employing solution-based growth processes following ALD seeding for synthesizing nanostructures like ZnO nanowires.
- Implementing secondary material overcoats (e.g., TiO2) to tune nanowire spacing and exploring conversion chemistry (e.g., layered-double hydroxide formation, anion-exchange).
Main Results:
- ALD seed layers precisely control nanowire diameter, spacing, and orientation on various substrates, including curved surfaces.
- Secondary overcoats and conversion chemistry allow for multilevel hierarchical structures and diverse nanostructures (e.g., nanosheets) with tunable geometry.
- Demonstrated scalability of ALD conformal deposition on complex substrates with subnanometer precision.
Conclusions:
- ALD-guided surface-directed assembly offers a scalable approach for fabricating nanoarchitected materials with controlled geometry and composition.
- This strategy enables tunable functional properties for applications in superomniphobic surfaces, antibiofouling coatings, and photocatalysis.
- The combination of ALD and solution synthesis presents a promising future for nanomanufacturing, overcoming limitations of traditional methods.
