Composite Filaments having Thin Claddings, Arrays of Composite Filaments, Fabrication and Applications Thereof

摘要

A method of fabricating composite filaments is provided. An initial composite filament including a core and a cladding (such as a Pt-group metal) is cut into smaller pieces (or is first mechanically reduced and then cut into smaller pieces). The smaller pieces of the filaments are inserted into a metal matrix, and the entire structure is then further reduced mechanically in a series of reduction steps. The process can be repeated until the desired cross sectional dimension of the filaments is achieved. The matrix can then be chemically removed to isolate the final composite filaments with the cladding thickness down to the nanometer range. The process allows the organization and integration of filaments of different sizes, compositions, and functionalities into arrays suitable for various applications. Materials and components made from such composite filaments and arrays of composite filaments are also disclosed,

主权项

1. A method of fabricating micro-sized composite filaments from an initial composite filament having a first cross sectional dimension, the initial composite filament including a core made from a first material and a cladding made from a second material and enclosing the core, comprising:
(a) mechanically reducing the initial composite filament to produce an intermediate composite filament having a reduced cross sectional dimension; (b) cutting the intermediate composite filament into two or more shorter filaments; (c) inserting the two or more shorter composite filaments side by side into a first matrix made from a third material; (d) mechanically reducing the first matrix with the two or more shorter filaments to further reduce the cross sectional dimensions of the two or more shorter filaments; and (e) isolating the two or more shorter filaments having further reduced cross sectional dimensions obtained from (d) from the first matrix.