Abstract
Copper oxide nanowires (CuO NWs) were synthesized by thermally oxidizing copper foils at various heating rates. It has been shown that both monoclinic CuO and cubic Cu2O phases were grown on the copper surface with NW diameters of almost 200 nm for all samples. While NWs were shown to be dense for low heating rates, they end up being broken for quick heating. The underlying growth mechanism was described basing on a detailed comprehensive study, and the effect of the heating rate was explained by considering the thermal shock effect and in-plane tensile stresses on curved surfaces. This study contributes to the research for suitable methods for the use of recyclable metals in technological applications. In particular, copper oxide NWs were deposited, for the first time, on FTO/glass substrates, and the optical characterization revealed that this method is a promising way to improve the surface contact for solar cells and catalytic applications.
Highlights
For involvement in solar cells and catalytic activities applications, copper oxide NWs have been successfully synthesized by thermal oxidation of copper foils
Experimental data showed that the Vapor-Solid mechanism and the Vapor-Liquid-Solid mechanism are excluded, and the Cupric oxide (CuO) nucleation was found to show a diffusion-controlled behavior. e formation of the CuO monoclinic phase leads to a pointed rhombic prism base for NWs nucleation
Local bending is enhanced by thermal shock, which increases by increasing the heating rate and results in an increasing in the in-plane tensile stresses, which reduces the size of nucleation sites, and, hereby, enhances the NWs density
Summary
Cupric oxide (CuO) and cuprous oxide (Cu2O) are p-type semiconductors with a band gap of 1.2 and 2 eV, respectively. eir electrical and optical properties make them very useful as interesting constituents in photovoltaic applications [1,2,3], gas and liquid sensors [4, 5], electron stable source in optoelectronic devices [6, 7], and organic catalysts [8, 9]. Eir electrical and optical properties make them very useful as interesting constituents in photovoltaic applications [1,2,3], gas and liquid sensors [4, 5], electron stable source in optoelectronic devices [6, 7], and organic catalysts [8, 9]. CuO NWs can be synthesized by several methods [18], including chemical routes [19,20,21,22], direct plasma oxidation [23, 24], and thermal oxidation of copper substrates [10,11,12,13,14,15, 25]. CuO NWs can be synthesized by several methods [18], including chemical routes [19,20,21,22], direct plasma oxidation [23, 24], and thermal oxidation of copper substrates [10,11,12,13,14,15, 25]. e latter is a pragmatic method
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