Facile synthesis of 3D CuO nanowire bundle and its excellent gas sensing and electrochemical sensing properties

Hierarchical mesoporous CuO nanowire bundle (NWB) was synthesized by precipitate combining with thermal conversion method using polyacrylamide (PAM) as a directing agent. The influencing factors to product morphologies were investigated on the basis of series of control experiments and the formation mechanism of the CuO NWB was proposed. The optical and gas sensing properties were studied by means of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectra in different atmosphere, respectively. Electrochemical sensing properties of the CuO modified electrode toward glucose were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry. The results show that a single CuO NWB is composed of tens of nanowires with diameters about 13 nm, which close packed together by oriented attachment. The CuO NWB exhibits excellent gas sensing capability to ammonia and electrochemical sensing properties toward glucose.