Influence of Beam Energy of Ions on Properties of Nickel Nanowires

Electrical conductivity and optical transmittance of Nickel Nanowires (Ni-NWs) networks was reported in this work. The Ni-NWs was irradiated with 3.5 MeV, 3.8 MeV and 4.11 MeV proton (H+) ions at room temperature. The electrical conductivity of Ni-NWs networks was observed to increase with the increase in beam energies of H+ ions. With the increase in ions beam energies, electrical conductivity increases and this may be attributed to a reduction in wire-wire point contact resistance due to the irradiation-induced welding of NWs. Welding is probably initiated due to H+ ions-irradiation induced heating effect that also improved the crystalline quality of nanowires (NWs). After ion beam irradiation, localize heat is generated in nanowires due to ionization which was also verified by SRIM simulation. Optical transmittance is increased with increase in energy of H+ ions. The Ni-NWs networks subjected to an ion beam irradiation to observe corresponding changes in electrical conductivity and optical transparencies are promising for various nano-technological applications as highly transparent and conducting electrodes.