A general and effective sol-flame method to dope nanowires and thin films

Stanford researchers have discovered a novel method of doping nanowires (NW) and thin films (TF) that greatly improves surface area and performance. The sol-flame method is a fast, simple and low cost way to introduce dopants into NW and TF for a wide variety of applications. The high temperature and ultra-fast heating rate of the flame enables rapid diffusion of dopants while shortening the annealing treatment duration to seconds. In addition, the brief flame exposure avoids damage to more delicate substrates such as glass. This method is general enough to work with many NW and nanoparticle (NP) materials and offers unprecedented engineering control as well.

Figure Caption: Schematic illustration of the general sol-flame synthesis process for hybrid NP@NW nanostructures. The NWs (A) are dip-coated with the precursor solution of NPs and then dried in air (or N2) to form a metal salt shell on the NWs. Then coated NWs (B) are annealed in the flame, forming a NP-chain morphology (C). The corresponding SEM images of (D) CuO NW, (E) Co(CH3COO)2 shell@CuO NW, and (F) Co3O4NP@CuO NW.

Stage of Research:
Reduced a 1cm by 1cm sample of doped TiO2 nanowires with W to practice.