Electroless synthesis of 3 nm wide alloy nanowires inside Tobacco mosaic virus.
We show that 3 nm wide cobalt-iron alloy nanowires can be synthesized by simple wet chemical electroless deposition inside tubular Tobacco mosaic virus particles. The method is based on adsorption of Pd(II) ions, formation of a Pd catalyst, and autocatalytic deposition of the alloy from dissolved metal salts, reduced by a borane compound. Extensive energy-filtering TEM investigations at the nanoscale revealed that the synthesized wires are alloys of Co, Fe, and Ni. We confirmed by high-resolution TEM that our alloy nanowires are at least partially crystalline, which is compatible with typical Co-rich alloys. Ni traces bestow higher stability, presumably against corrosion, as also known from bulk CoFe. Alloy nanowires, as small as the ones presented here, might be used for a variety of applications including high density data storage, imaging, sensing, and even drug delivery.
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Stuttgart, Germany.
Sinan
S
Balci
Kersten
K
Hahn
Peter
P
Kopold
Anan
A
Kadri
Christina
C
Wege
Klaus
K
Kern
Alexander M
AM
Bittner
D000497:Alloys / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D014027:Tobacco Mosaic Virus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014771:Virion / Q000648:ultrastructure
D000497:Alloys