Enhancement of heavy ion track-etching in polyimide membranes with organic solvents.

The effect of organic solvents on the ion track-etching of polyimide (PI) membranes is studied to enhance the nanopore fabrication process and the control over pore diameter growth. To this end, two approaches are employed to investigate the influence of organic solvents on the nanopore fabrication in PI membranes. In the first approach, the heavy ion irradiated PI samples are pretreated with organic solvents and then chemically etched with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution, resulting up to ∼4.

Development of a nanoscale electroless plating procedure for bismuth and its application in template-assisted nanotube fabrication.

Electroless plating is a versatile technique for the facile and controlled synthesis of metallic thin films and nanostructures. While there are numerous known procedures involving transition metals, reports on the electroless plating of post-transition metals are particularly rare, even without considering specific nanofabrication requirements. In this work we outline the development of a remarkably stable electroless plating bath for nanoscale bismuth coatings, based on the reduction of Bi-EDTA by borane dimethylamine.