research papers
The structural characteristics of monoclinic CuO nanowires (NWs) fabricated by heating pure Cu in ambient air were investigated by electron microscopy. Besides the single-crystalline NW, four different twinned NWs with twinning planes of , (002), (110) and have been found. The twin boundaries are generally in parallel with the NW axial direction. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the and (110) twins are reported for the first time in CuO. Moreover, the prevailing existence of and (002) twinned NWs could be closely related to the NW growth as well as the oxidation processes of Cu. The presented results provide a systematic investigation on the twin structures of CuO NWs, which may open up a pathway to explore new potential applications of CuO nanostructures.
Keywords: CuO; nanowires; twin boundaries; electron microscopy; crystallographic orientation relationships.
Supporting information
Portable Document Format (PDF) file https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576716001461/nb5166sup1.pdf |