Lead zirconate titanate nanowire growth via spin coating in conjunction with sol-gel process

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanowires are successfully synthesized by a spin coating of sol-gel solution on a highly ordered porous alumina membrane (PAM). Field emission scanning electron microscope images show that PZT nanowires are well packed inside the nanochannels of the PAM. A selected area electron diffraction pattern reveals that they are polycrystalline. They exhibit a high aspect-ratio (up to 400) with diameters of similar to 50 nm and lengths of similar to 20 mu m. Our experiment suggests that a vortex motion induced by the spin coating plays an important role for the sol to enter the pores of membrane in order to achieve quality PZT nanowires. These results indicate that the spill coating of sol-gel solution on a PAM can be a simple, highly reproducible, and timesaving method to prepare functional complex oxide nanowires with high aspect-ratio.