Controlled growth of copper oxide nanostructures by atmospheric pressure micro-afterglow

•We develop an innovative strategy to synthesize various copper oxide nanostructures.•The growth is realised by an oxidation at atmospheric pressure plasma conditions.•Novel nanostructures are obtained in a gas-phase process at atmospheric pressure.

A large variety of copper oxide nanostructures encompassing nanodots, nanowires and nanowalls, sometimes organized in “cabbage-like” architectures, are grown locally by direct oxidation of copper thin films using the micro-afterglow of an Ar–O2 microwave plasma operating at atmospheric pressure. Morphology, structure and composition of the oxidized copper thin films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. The concentric areas where each kind of nanostructures is found are defined by both their radial position with respect to the afterglow centre and by experimental conditions. A growth mechanism is proposed, based on stress-induced outward migration of copper ions. The development of stress gradients is caused by the formation of a copper oxide scale layer. If copper oxide nanowires can be grown as in thermal oxidation processes, micro-afterglow conditions offer novel nanostructures and nano-architectures.