Fabrication of Amorphous Silver Nanowires by Helium Ion Beam Irradiation

Amorphous silver nanowires (a-Ag NWs) are fabricated from crystalline Ag NWs by using 5 MeV helium (He⁺) ion beam irradiation. At low dose (5×10¹⁵ ion/cm²), few defects are created in Ag NWs. As dose increases, more damage to the crystalline structure of Ag NWs is observed. Finally at high dose (8×10¹⁶ ion/cm²), the face-centered cubic structure of Ag NWs is transformed into the amorphous structure with similar morphology as Ag NWs. Phase transformation of crystalline Ag NWs upon irradiation with 5 MeV He⁺ ions is observed through high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Synthesis of large scale amorphous metal nanowires and metal nanowire alloy systems are discussed.