Study of field emission, electrical transport, and their correlation of individual single CuO nanowires

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We report our recent findings from the study of the field emission, electrical transport, and their correlation of individual single CuO nanowires grown by thermal oxidation. Typical Fowler–Nordheim (FN) plot of a single CuO nanowire exhibits an upward bending behavior with increasing applied electric field: a rare phenomenon of field emission from nanowires. The electrical transport measurement has shown that the CuO nanowire has a typical conductivity of 7.8×10−4 (Ω cm)−1. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study has given the energy band gap of 1.2 eV with Fermi energy level close to the top of valence band, confirming that the CuO nanowire is p-type. The upward bending FN plot can be explained using a field emission model of p-type semiconductor.