Orientation-dependent growth rate of crystalline plane study in electrodeposited Ni/Cu superlattice nanowires

A method of using the superlattice nanowire with epitaxial growth to study the relationship between the crystal orientation and corresponding growth rate for the electrodeposited nanowire is proposed. The relationship between growth rate and orientation of two metals Ni and Cu was studied through analysis of the epitaxial growth of Ni/Cu superlattice nanowires. Three samples with different periodic lengths were prepared by an electrodeposition method and analyzed to compare the segment lengths of nanowires with different crystalline orientations. The quantitative analysis result indicates that the growth rate of different planes exist ν : ν = 1.25-1.31 for Ni, and ν : ν = 1.32-1.41 for Cu, which qualitatively follow the Bravais rule. The quantitative analysis for the relationship between growth rate and orientation is important for the effective control of the uniform growth of the electrodeposited nanowires. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.