Chemical vapor deposition of copper oxide films and entangled quasi-1D nanoarchitectures as innovative gas sensors

Supported copper oxide nanosystems were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on Al2O3 substrates and characterized by means of glancing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The analyses showed an evolution from polycrystalline Cu2O nanodeposits to CuO samples with an entangled quasi-1D morphology upon increasing the growth temperature from 350 to 550 °C. For the first time, the sensing properties of CVD copper oxide nanosystems were probed in the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs; e.g. CH3COCH3, CH3CH2OH). The obtained results revealed good responses even at moderate operating temperatures, with characteristics directly dependent on the system composition and nano-organization.