The bonding of nanowire assemblies using adhesive and solder

In the past decade, several strategies have been proposed to direct the assembly of nanocomponents from the bottom up to fabricate two- and three-dimensional integrated structures. In these strategies, either the surface or the bulk of a nanocomponent is functionalized to facilitate positive and negative interactions based on molecular electrostatic, magnetic, or capillary forces, to enable the components to interact with one another in a fluidic medium and form thermodynamically stable structures. However, in many cases, the assembled structures are not well bonded. This paper summarizes results on directing the assembly of metallic rod-shaped (30-200 nm diameter) components with one another and with substrates to form structures that can be bonded by adhesive or solder The methodology can be adapted with other self-assembling strategies to form mechanically stable, and in certain instances electrically conductive, assemblies composed of nanoscale componenents.