This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of engineering surface treatments of nanowires in a nanostructure array. The project will explore smoothing and roughening surfaces for different applications using electrochemical treatments. This project will grow nanowire arrays using a patterned mask that create highly ordered and perfectly oriented nanowires of controlled dimensions, which conventional methods don?t allow. This research will demonstrate consistently controllable pre-treatments of nanostructures and nanostructured arrays suitable for a variety of high-precision devices, like solar cells or sensors. Techniques to control and characterize surface properties of gold (Au) nanowire array obtained by template synthesis are the focus of this proposal. This project will use nanoimprinting as a cost-effective technology that enables tailored fabrication of nanostructures. This project will examine two surface engineering processes never before applied to nanostructures. These surface treatments are based on restricting surface treatments to the top-most atomic layers of nanoscale structures. Techniques to control and verify the quality of surfaces and interfaces are especially important when subsequent layers are extremely thin, as is the case with solar cells, the intended application. Results lay the foundation for creating economical and consistently high-precision nanostructure array templates and arrays. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be arrays of nanostructures of precise dimensions and surface quality; although this project has targeted solar cells, this technology has broad applicability in nanoelectronics and nanofabrication. Nanostructured devices, rather than bulk materials, are the key to realizing economical, reliable, high-performance solar cells. Results will be arrays of discrete structures but the same technique are applicable to circuitry, sensors, optical applications, etc. This research is a key step in establishing a new low-cost, high-performance photovoltaic cell and enables new capabilities and performance in sensing devices.
