title: Macroscopic free-standing hierarchical 3D architectures assembled from silver nanowires by ice templating.
abstract: As macroscopic three dimensional (3D) architectures show increasing significance, much effort has been devoted to the hierarchical organization of 1D nanomaterials into serviceable macroscopic 3D assemblies. How to assemble 1D nanoscale building blocks into 3D hierarchical architectures is still a challenge. Herein we report a general strategy based on the use of ice as a template for assembling 1D nanostructures with high efficiency and good controllability. Free-standing macroscopic 3D Ag nanowire (AgNW) assemblies with hierarchical binary-network architectures are then fabricated from a 1D AgNW suspension for the first time. The microstructure of this 3D AgNW network endows it with electrical conductivity and allows it to be made into stretchable and foldable conductors with high electromechanical stability. These properties should make this kind of macroscopic 3D AgNW architecture and it composites suitable for electronic applications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P. R. China) http://staff.ustc.edu.cn/∼yulab/
authors.forename: Huai-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Yu-Xiang
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D007053:Ice; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007053:Ice; D012834:Silver
keywords: conducting materials; hierarchical structures; ice; silver nanowires; template assembly