Biomimetic method for metallic nanostructured mesoscopic models fabrication

TL;DR

This paper presents a biomimetic electroplating method to fabricate complex metallic nanostructures resembling natural objects, demonstrating shape control and hierarchical structuring at multiple scales.

Contribution

It introduces a novel biomimetic electroplating technique for creating complex metallic nanostructures with controlled shapes and hierarchical features.

Findings

Successfully fabricated natural-like metallic structures.

Demonstrated shape regulation between mushroom and shell forms.

Achieved hierarchical nano-, micro-, and mesoscopic structures.

Abstract

Various metallic structures of complex shape, resembling natural objects such as plants, mushrooms, and seashells, were produced when growing nanowires by means of pulsed current electroplating in porous membranes. These structures occur as the result of nanowires self-assembling (biomimetics) if the electroplating is continued after the nanowires reach the membrane surface. By varying the membrane geometry and the pulsed current parameters, and alternating electroplating from two baths with different electrolytes, various models were fabricated, including a hollow container with wall thickness of 10-30 nm. The possibility of shape regulation for models was demonstrated: in certain conditions, mushroom- and shell-like convex-concave models of the same kind were obtained. The hierarchical structure of models at the nano-, micro- and mesoscopic levels is shown through fragmentation and chemical etching.