Enhanced fabrication of hybrid Cu-Cu₂O nanostructures on electrodes using electrochemical migration

Abstract

Cu, Cu2O and CuO nanostructures have characteristic physical properties, and are used in a variety of fields such as lithium ion batteries, solar batteries and gas sensors. Recently, various techniques for the nanostructures fabrication have been studied for these applications. It has been reported that electrochemical migration (ECM) causes insulation deterioration on the printed circuit boards in high-humidity and high-temperature conditions. Previous investigations of the suppression of ECM revealed that eluted Cu ions grew as dendrites. A considerable number of studies have investigated the suppression of ECM, but the beneficial use of ECM has not been studied extensively. The use of ECM has become the subject of increasing interest because ECM is a low-cost and green fabrication technique, and the reaction requires only DC voltage and water without any metal salts and hydroxides. Some attempts have been made to fabricate hybrid Cu-Cu2O nanostructures using ECM. However, it has been reported that the growth of dendrites between electrodes ceases because the dendrites create a shortcircuit. Thus, proper fabrication has not yet been achieved. This study aimed to enhance the fabrication of hybrid Cu-Cu2O nanostructures using ECM. In this study, we changed the path length of the dendrites' growth, and improved the fabrication process through evaluation of the results.