Fabrication and characterization of copper oxide (CuO)–gold (Au)–titania (TiO2) and copper oxide (CuO)–gold (Au)–indium tin oxide (ITO) nanowire heterostructures

• Heterostructures comprised of CuO nanowires coated with Au nanoparticles.
• Au nanoparticles exhibited nearly flat and low energy interface with nanowire.
• Heterostructures were further sputter-coated with oxide shell of TiO2 or ITO.
• The process resulted in coating of polycrystalline TiO2 and amorphous ITO shell.

Nanoscale heterostructures composed of standing copper oxide nanowires decorated with Au nanoparticles and shells of titania and indium tin oxide were fabricated. The fabrication process involved surfactant-free and wet-chemical nucleation of gold nanoparticles on copper oxide nanowires followed by a line-of-sight sputtering of titania or indium tin oxide. The heterostructures were characterized using high resolution electron microscopy, diffraction, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The interfaces, morphologies, crystallinity, phases, and chemical compositions were analyzed. The process of direct nucleation of gold nanoparticles on copper oxide nanoparticles resulted in low energy interface with aligned lattice for both the components. Coatings of polycrystalline titania or amorphous indium tin oxide were deposited on standing copper oxide nanowire–gold nanoparticle heterostructures. Self-shadowing effect due to standing nanowire heterostructures was observed for line-of-sight sputter deposition of titania or indium tin oxide coatings. Finally, the heterostructures were studied using Raman spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, including band gap energy analysis. Tailing in the band gap energy at longer wavelengths (or lower energies) was observed for the nanowire heterostructures.