Society Award Lecture - Vittorio de Nora Award Address: On-Wire Lithography: An Electrochemical Approach to Controlling Nanoscale Architecture

On-wire lithography (OWL) is a template-based, electrochemical process for forming one-dimensional solution dispersible arrays of nanorods with programmably synthesized nano- and micro-scale gaps. OWL provides excellent control over the nanowire diameter (from 30 to 360 nm depending on the membrane pore size), segment length (from 6 nm to a few microns), gap size (from 1 nm to a few microns), composition (e.g., Au, Ni, Ag, Pt, Pd, PEDOT, PTh, P3HT, PPY, PPV) of the different nanowire components. The versatility of this novel technique has allowed for the fabrication of a wide variety of structures with emergent and highly functional properties that are advancing studies of SERS, plasmonics, and plexcitonics and forming the basis for novel molecular electronic, optoelectronic, encoding, and chemical and biological detection devices.