Gold nanotube membranes; fabrication of controlled pore geometries and tailored surface chemistries

This study concerns the fabrication, chemical modification and characterisation of gold nanotube membranes using porous alumina (PA) membranes as templates. Electroless deposition was used to finely coat membranes with gold, forming gold nanotubes within the pores. PA templates were fabricated with straight and shaped pores thus allowing the fabrication of a wide range of gold nanotube geometries. The gold deposition process provides control over the pore size of the membrane, where pore sizes can be reduced to molecular dimensions. Chemical sensitivity was introduced into the membrane through the addition of self assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiols. Characterisation of thiol assembly within the pores of the membrane was investigated using confocal Raman.