The growth of one-dimensional oxide nanostructures by thermal oxidation of metals

Fundamental understanding of metals and alloys oxidation and reduction is important for the next generation technology. A detailed study on the oxide nanostructures growth from the oxidation of model metal systems, Cu, Fe, Zn and brass has been investigated to bridge the information gap between the oxidation mechanisms of buck metals and alloys to metal oxide nanostructures.;It is observed that CuO nanowires have a bicrystal structure and form directly on top of underlying CuO grains. The driving force for the oxide nanowire growth is attributed to the compressive stresses generated during the oxidation. To verify this growth mechanism, Cu foils are bent or sandblasted to create stresses. We show that the oxide nanowire formation can be effectively promoted by surface bending tensile stresses or surface roughening via sandblasting. The formation of alpha-Fe2O3 nanowires by oxidation of Fe also follows the same stress driven mechanism as Cu. It is also found that decreasing the oxygen pressure or modifying the surface roughness by sandblasting can be employed to tune the hematite nanostructures from nanowires to nanobelts or nanoblades.;The growth of ZnO nanowires by direct oxidation of pure Zn follows different mechanisms depending on the temperatures: the oxidation below the melting point of Zn is dominated by a solid-solid transformation process, a liquid-solid process between the melting and boiling points of Zn, and a vapor-solid process above the boiling point of Zn. ZnO nanowires can also be synthesized by thermal oxidation of brass (Cu0.7Zn0.3). With increasing the oxidation temperature or exerting sandblasting onto brass, the formation of ZnO nanowires can be effectively suppressed.;The thermally induced reduction of CuO nanowires are studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy. Reduction of CuO nanowires results in the formation of a unique hierarchical hybrid nanostructure, in which the lower oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles partially embedded into the parent oxide phase (CuO). For the CuO nanowires sheathed by a carbon shell, we show that confined nanoscale geometry leads to changes in the oxide reduction mechanism from a surface dominated process to the bulk dominated process.