Microplasmas for direct, substrate-independent deposition of nanostructured metal oxides

Abstract

A general, substrate-independent method for plasma deposition of nanostructured, crystalline metal oxides is presented. The technique uses a flow-through, micro-hollow cathode plasma discharge (supersonic microplasma jet) with a “remote” ring anode to deliver a highly directed flux of growth species to the substrate. A diverse range of nanostructured materials (e.g., CuO, α-Fe2O3, and NiO) can be deposited on any room temperature surface, e.g., conductors, insulators, plastics, fibers, and patterned surfaces, in a conformal fashion. The effects of deposition conditions, substrate type, and patterning on film morphology, nanostructure, and surface coverage are highlighted. The synthesis approach presented herein provides a general and tunable method to deposit a variety of functional and hierarchical metal oxide materials on many different surfaces. High surface area, conversion-type CuO electrodes for Li-ion batteries are demonstrated as a proof-of-concept example.