The effect of applied voltage and temperature on growth of copper micro‐ and nanowires in etched ion‐track cellulose nitrate detector

The effects of the applied voltage and temperature on growth of Cu micro‐ and nanowires electrochemical deposited in the etched ion‐track Cellulose Nitrate (CN) detector were investigated. Cellulose Nitrate foils of 96‐μm thickness were irradiated with heavy ions (U ions of initial energy 17.7 MeV/nucleon and 16.34 MeV/nucleon). By chemical etching of the latent tracks produced by the heavy ions in CN samples, a porous membrane containing nano‐ and micro‐sized cylindrical open pores were prepared. These porous membranes have been used for fabrication of the nano and microwires. Cu micro‐ and nanowires were grown by electrochemical deposition of copper into pores using the two‐electrode electrochemical cell. The electrochemical deposition process was monitored in real time by recording the current during the growth of the wires. The influence of the deposition parameters such as applied voltage and electrolyte temperature on current versus time curve recorded during the manufacturing of Cu microwires and their structure were studied.