Nanopillars are pillar shaped nanostructures approximately 10 nanometers in diameter that can be grouped together in lattice like arrays.
[1] They are a type of metamaterial, which means that nanopillars get their attributes from being grouped into artificially designed structures and not their natural properties.
Nanopillars have many applications including efficient solar panels, high resolution analysis, and antibacterial surfaces.
When bacteria rests on a cicada's wing, its cell membrane will stick to the nanopillars and the crevices between them, rupturing it.
If mass-produced and installed everywhere, nanopillars could reduce much of the risk of transmitting diseases through touching infected surfaces.
Zhu et al. have shown that it is crucial to include an appropriate tapering of the nanopillars to maximize collection efficiency.
[13] In 2006, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a cheaper and more efficient way to create nanopillars.
They used a combination of nanosphere lithography (a way of organizing the lattice) and reactive ion etching(molding the nanopillars to the right shape) to make large groups of silicon pillars with less than 500 nm diameters.
[16] The process to create nanopillars starts with anodizing a 2.5 mm thick aluminum foil mold.
Lastly, a small amount of gold is added to the pores to catalyze the reaction for the growth of the semiconductor material.
[17] Furthermore, pillar and tube structures can also be fabricated by the top-down approach of the combination of deep UV (DUV) lithography and atomic layer deposition (ALD).