Preparation of aligned Cu nanowires by room-temperature reduction of CuO nanowires inelectron cyclotron resonance hydrogen plasma

Abstract

Aligned Cu nanowires were prepared by the reduction of aligned CuO nanowiresin electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) hydrogen plasma at room temperature.They are single-crystalline and maintain the original alignment of the CuOnanowires. In contrast, the reduction of CuO nanowires by thermal processing inH2 has failed to produce the expected Cu nanowires because of morphological changes and thecoalescence of newly formed Cu nanowires, leading to the formation of films consisting ofmicron-sized particles. The morphological changes and coalescence of Cu nanowires resultfrom their low melting temperature. The reduction mechanism under ECR conditions hasbeen discussed. The application of ECR plasma can effectively avoid the hightemperature demand for CuO reduction when using the thermal processing method.This template-directed method assisted by ECR plasma can be extended for thetransformation of other one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials at low temperature and lowpressure.