Cu/SiO 2−x nanowires with compositional modulation structure grown via thermal evaporation

One-dimensional compositional modulation has been achieved in Cu/SiO2−x nanowires prepared at the substrate temperature of 1000 °C by thermal evaporation of a cuprous oxide and silicon mono-oxide mixture. The synthesized nanowires consist of the Cu spheres uniformly piled up along the longitudinal direction of the nanowires to form a modulation structure with an average period of about 140 nm. This periodicity could be adjusted by changing the CuO concentration in the source materials mixture.