Optical and magnetic properties of CuO nanowires grown by thermal oxidation

Abstract

ABSTRACT\nCuO nanostructures with different morphologies, such as single-crystal nanowires, nanoribbons and nanorods, have been grown by thermal oxidation of copper in the (380-900) ?C temperature range. Cathodoluminescence spectra of the nanostructures show a band peaked at 1.31 eV which is associated to near band gap transitions of CuO. Two additional bands centred at about 1.23 eV and 1.11 eV, suggested to be due to defects, are observed for nanostructures grown at high temperatures. The magnetic behaviour of nanowires with lengths in the range of several microns and diameters of (50-120) nm has been investigated. Hysteresis loops of the nanowires show ferromagnetic behaviour from 5 K to room temperature.