Reactive Bi-Metallic Aluminium/Nickel Nanowires as Nano-Heaters and Their Applications

Nanoscale heating sources (“nano-heaters”) based on exothermic reaction between reactive materials, such as aluminum (Al) and nickel (Ni), have received great attention in recent years. In this presentation, we will show that Al-Ni bi-metallic nanowires can be fabricated by a combination of electrochemical deposition and physical evaporation methods. The heterogeneous nanostructures have been characterized by a variety of tools including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Ignition tests by heating and laser were performed. Potential applications of the nanostructures as nano-heaters are studied in this work. We incorporate the bimetallic Al/Ni nanowire nano-heaters onto multi-segmented nanowires and utilize the heat generated from the nano-heaters to bond or solder other nanowire structures.