Synthesis and characterization of superconducting, single-crystal Al nanowires using template based electrodeposition*

Al nanowires (ANW) have been fabricated using template based electrodeposition at room temperature for the first time. An anhydrous electrolyte comprised of AlCl$_{3}$ and LiAlH$_{4}$ in tetrahydrofuran with a Pt anode and Ag cathode was used to electrodeposit Al in an anodic aluminum oxide template. X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction show that the ANW are single crystal with (110) as the growth direction. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the wires have uniform diameters with an oxidation layer a few nanometers thick around them. Four electrode transport measurements on a single $70$ nm thick ANW have shown significant enhancement in the critical temperature and the critical field and decrease in the critical current density from the bulk value.