Abstract
Hierarchical CuO nanostructures (urchin-like and grassy island structure) were successfully synthesized by a simple chemical bath deposition method at low temperature of 70°C in a short reaction time of 1h. XRD analysis revealed the presence of pure crystalline monoclinic CuO. Morphological analysis revealed the formation of spherical structures composed of numerous hair-like structures. The pH of the solution was also investigated to have a great effect on the morphology of the CuO nanostructures. At lower pH, the structures tend to form urchin-like structures; while at higher pH, the structures tend to form grass-like islands. A growth mechanism was also proposed in this paper. Lastly, wettability test proved the stable superhydrophobic property of the CuO nanostructured thin film surface.
Highlights
Cupric oxide (CuO) is a p-type transitional metal oxide semiconductor with a narrow bandgap of 1.2-2.1 eV
The composition and crystal structure of the as-grown CuO nanostructures were determined by Shimadzu X-ray diffractometer (XRD7000) operated at 40 kV and 30 mA with Cu Kα radiation in the range of 30–80°
The other characteristics peaks located at 32.5°, 36.3° and 39.4°can be attributed to (110), (11-1) and (111) peaks of pure monoclinic CuO (JCPDS 05661)
Summary
Cupric oxide (CuO) is a p-type transitional metal oxide semiconductor with a narrow bandgap of 1.2-2.1 eV. CuO nanostructures remain to exhibit superior optical, electrical, magnetic, thermal and electrochemical properties which render them usable for a wide variety of potential applications. These include solar cells [3], gas and chemical sensors [4,5,6,7], nanofluidics [8], photocatalysis [9,10], superhydrophobic surfaces [11], antimicrobial and antifungal agents [12,13] and electrochemical energy storage applications [14,15,16,17,18,19]. The superior hydrophobic properties of the unique CuO nanostructures were observed
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