Electrochemically Deposited NanoColumnar Junctions of Cu[sub 2]O and ZnO on Ni Nanowires

Abstract

We report on the formation of nanocolumnar junctions of metal oxide and metal nanowires, i.e., and by a single electrodeposition technique in this work. In addition, metal oxide junctions on Ni nanowires, i.e., and structures into an alumina template were prepared by two electrochemical steps in sequence, galvanostatic-potentiostatic deposition and vice versa. The deposition rate of Ni was seven times faster than the formation rate, but consumed slightly more charge to form nanowires with the same aspect ratio. ZnO was formed by electrochemical reduction followed by physical dehydration and its deposition rate was . Scanning electron microscopy morphological observation and energy dispersive X-ray analysis clearly showed distinct structures of nano-columnar metal/metal oxide inside the porous alumina template.