Electrochemical fabrication of ordered Ag2S nanowire arrays

Abstract We have successfully fabricated ordered crystalline Ag2S nanowire arrays by direct current electrodeposition into the nanochannels of porous anodic aluminum oxide templates from a dimethylsulfoxide solution containing AgNO3 and elemental S. X-ray diffraction and the selected area electron diffraction investigations demonstrate that the Ag2S nanowires are a uniform actanthite structure. Electromicroscopy results show that the nanowires are quite ordered with diameters of about 40 nm and lengths up to 5 μm. X-ray energy dispersion analysis indicates that the atomic composition of Ag and S is very close to a 2:1 stoichiometry. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the formation of the Ag2S nanowires is proposed.