The growth mechanism of CuO nanowires synthesized by the thermal oxidation method

Large-scale CuO nanowires are commonly synthesized by the thermal oxidation method. However, the growth mechanism remains controversial between diffusion growth mechanism and vapor-solid (VS) growth mechanism. In this study, we investigated the morphology and atomic structure of the CuO nanowires by electron microscopes to clarify the growth mechanism. We found that they were grown with the annealing ambient during the cooling process and there were screw dislocations in the nanowires. These features indicate that the VS growth mechanism is applicable to explain the growth of the CuO nanowires. In addition, the kinetic consideration also supports the VS growth mechanism.