Surface decoration of anodic aluminium oxide in synthesis of Nafion®-115 nanowire arrays

An extrusion method, using anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membranes as templates, has been developed to fabricate Nafion^®-115 nanowire arrays. Surface decoration of the templates plays an important role in the synthesis of the Nafion^®-115 nanowire arrays. By using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a surfactant in the surface decoration, the filling rate of the Nafion^®-115 nanowires in the corresponding template exceeds 95%, compared with the filling rate of 42% in an undecorated template, while on using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant, the filling rate is only about 20%. Systematical investigations show that the effect of surface decoration is induced by the combination of surface tension and electrostatic force (radial component), of which the radial component of the electrostatic force is more important. This effect is significant in organic nanowire fabrication; furthermore, the as-synthesized organic nanowires would have potential application such as in organic electronics, optoelectronic devices, and nanoscale proton exchange membrane fuel cells.