Chemical vapor deposition of copper oxide films and entangled quasi-1D nanoarchitectures as innovative gas sensors

Supported copper oxide nanosystemswere synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on Al2O3 substratesand characterized by means of glancing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), secondary ion massspectrometry (SIMS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The analyses showed anevolution from polycrystalline Cu2O nanodeposits to CuO samples with an entangled quasi-1D morphologyupon increasing the growth temperature from350 to 550 æC. For the first time, the sensing propertiesof CVD copper oxide nanosystems were probed in the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs;e.g. CH3COCH3, CH3CH2OH). The obtained results revealed good responses even at moderate operatingtemperatures, with characteristics directly dependent on the systemcomposition and nano-organization.