Method for fabricating metallic micro-nanostructures

Abstract

A method for fabricating metallic micro-nanostructures, the method including: 1) heating a metal and a micro-nanostructure mold to a temperature T, where the metal is a pure metal or an alloy thereof selected from indium (In), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), bismuth (Bi), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold (Au), silver (Ag), platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd), T is greater than or equal to 0.5 T m and less than T m , with T representing an absolute temperature and T m representing a melting point temperature of the metal at absolute temperature scale; 2) applying load to press the metal at the temperature T into the mold to obtain a composite structure comprising the mold and the metal; and 3) removing the mold, to obtain the metal with replicated micro-nanostructures.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for fabricating metallic micro-nanostructures, the method comprising:
 1) heating a metal and a micro-nanostructure mold to a temperature T, wherein the metal is a pure metal or an alloy thereof selected from indium (In), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), bismuth (Bi), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold (Au), silver (Ag), platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd), T is greater than or equal to 0.5 T m  and less than T m , with T representing an absolute temperature and T m  representing a melting point temperature of the metal at absolute temperature scale;   2) applying load to press the metal at the temperature T into the micro-nanostructure mold to obtain a composite structure comprising the micro-nanostructure mold and the metal; and   3) removing the micro-nanostructure mold to obtain metallic micro-nanostructures.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a characteristic scale of the micro-nanostructure is between nm and 100 nm. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a characteristic scale of the micro-nanostructure is between 100 nm and 50 μm. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the micro-nanostructures mold comprises silicon or an inorganic oxide. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the inorganic oxide is silicon oxide or aluminum oxide. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the micro-nanostructure mold is removed by using chemical etching. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the micro-nanostructure mold is removed by using chemical etching. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein removing the micro-nanostructure mold comprises: putting the composite structure comprising the micro-nanostructure mold and the metal in an alkaline solution or an acid solution, heating the same until the mold is etched off, and soaking and washing the metal using deionized water and acetone or absolute ethanol in sequence, to obtain the metallic micro-nanostructures. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein removing the micro-nanostructure mold comprises: putting the composite structure comprising the micro-nanostructure mold and the metal in an alkaline solution or an acid solution, heating the same until the mold is etched off, and soaking and washing the metal using deionized water and acetone or absolute ethanol in sequence, to obtain the metallic micro-nanostructures. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metal is provided in bulk, flakes, or granules.