1. Could you explain the significance of your article to the non-specialist? 

Metal/insulator nanocables represent a new kind of nanostructure in the family of low dimensional nanomaterials, which have similar structures as that of the macroscopic cables (Cu, Al etc.), which have been widely used in industry and our daily lives. Copper is malleable, ductile, and a good conductor of heat and electricity (second only to silver in electrical conductivity), which is the most commonly used as an interconnector due to its high electrical conductivity. The successful access to copper/cross-linked nanocables is a key step for further investigation on their electrical conductivity and potential applications in connecting miniature electronics and the ultra-small components etc. This kind of nanocables could provide effective access to connecting components of super high-density integrated circuits and would be expected to be commercialised in the electronic industry.

2. What has motivated you to conduct this work? 

Recently, a lot of efforts have been made to synthesize one dimensional nanowires and nanotubes. Copper is a metal presently used to create connecting wires in integrated circuits. The availability of copper nanowires with well-defined dimensions should be able to bring in new types of applications or enhance the performance of currently existing electric devices. In addition, the isolated shell deposited on the core (metal nanowires) could provide an effect method for preventing the oxidization from the viewpoint of applications. It is easily to fabricate the normal macroscopic cables by shelling the copper wires with an isolator such as rubber. However, how to fabricate the miniature cables with only several hundreds nanometers is not easy to achieve. Thus, this motivates us to do this work.

3. Where do you see this work developing in the future? 

The successful access of flexible nanocables with copper, and silver, nanowire as the core and cross-linked PVA as shells could be of importance for the potential applications of such cables in the area of miniature electronics such as connecting miniature electronics and the ultra-small components. We can imagine that this kind of nanocable with similar structural features as normal cables should find more wide applications such as conductors of heat and electricity, connecting miniature electronics and the ultra-small components.

4. Are there any particular challenges facing future research in this area?

Yes. There are indeed big challenges facing future research in this area. Even though we now can produce such nanocables with copper and silver as cores, and with cross-linked PVA, carbon as shells, the controlled synthesis process still needs to be optimized and the detailed growth mechanism is still not so clear at this stage. The ideal aim is to access individual and totally separated nanocables with high quality and in large scale. Furthermore, the application of this kind of nanocable should be explored and needs multidisciplinary efforts, for example, as connecting wires as we can imagine currently for the application scope of macroscopic cables in our daily life. The electronic properties (for example, resistance, electrical conductivity) of an individual cable with different thickness of the isolator shell, and the diameter of the core nanowire would be also very interesting.