J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115, 549–553
549
Formation of Metallic Nanowires via Electrochemistry in Aqueous Surfactant Media Marion Janin, Jalal Ghilane, Hyacinthe Randriamahazaka, and Jean Christophe Lacroix* UniVersite´ Paris Diderot, ITODYS Laboratory, NanoElectroChemistry NEC, CNRS, UMR 7086, Baˆtiment LaVoisier, 15 rue Jean Antoine de Baı¨f, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France ReceiVed: June 21, 2010; ReVised Manuscript ReceiVed: October 27, 2010
Atomic contacts between two copper microelectrodes, with conductance close to the conductance quantum (G0), have been generated using simple electrochemical methods in aqueous media containing various types of surfactant. Neutral and cationic surfactant have only a small impact on the conductance with a preponderant value around 1 G0. Furthermore, varying the concentration of the neutral and cationic surfactants above or below the critical micellar concentration (cmc) during the growth process does not lead to any significant variation in the conductance. In contrast, atomic contacts generated in a solution containing an anionic surfactant below the cmc have unusual but reproducible properties. They have
