Fabrication of Nano Electrodes based on Liquid Membrane Electrochemical Etching

Electrochemical machining has the potential to allow machining at the nanometer scale. A nano electrode is an essential tool in nano-electrochemical machining. In this paper, the mechanism of liquid membrane electrochemical etching is studied, and a processing platform is developed. The processing voltage, initial tungsten diameter and electrolyte concentration are control factors in nano electrode fabrication. An orthogonal experiment was conducted using these three processing parameters. Experimental results showed that the electrolyte concentration had the most significant effect on nano electrode fabrication, where the optimal machining parameters are the following: processing voltage of 6 V, initial tungsten diameter of 200 μm and potassium hydroxide electrolyte concentration of 1 mol/L. Using these optimal machining parameters, an 85 nanometers diameter tool electrode with an aspect ratio of 20 was obtained in several minutes. Successful nano electrode fabrication provides technological support and a theoretical basis for future research in nanoelectrochemical machining.