Growth of Horizontal Nanopillars of CuO on NiO/ITO Surfaces

We have demonstrated hydrothermal synthesis of rectangular pillar-like CuO nanostructures at low temperature (~60°C) by selective growth on top of NiO porous structures film deposited using chemical bath deposition method at room temperature using indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass plate as a substrate. The growth of CuO not only filled the NiO porous structures but also formed the big nanopillars/nanowalls on top of NiO surface. These nanopillars could have significant use in nanoelectronics devices or can also be used as p-type conducting wires. The present study is limited to the surface morphology studies of the thin nanostructured layers of NiO/CuO composite materials. Structural, morphological, and absorption measurement of the CuO/NiO heterojunction were studied using state-of-the-art techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and UV spectroscopy. The CuO nanopillars/nanowalls have the structure in order of (5 ± 1.0) μm × (2.0 ± 0.3) μm; this will help to provide efficient charge transport in between the different semiconducting layers. The energy band gap of NiO and CuO was also calculated based on UV measurements and discussed