In-situ preparation of carbon nanotubes on CuO nanowire via chemical vapor deposition and their growth mechanism investigation

In-situ growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on CuO nanowires is realized by chemical vapor deposition method, in which hydrogen/argon mixed gas and acetylene are used as pretreatment gas and carbon source, respectively. CuO nanowires are formed uniformly on the surface of copper wire (CW) through thermal oxidation method, which generates CW@CuO@CNTs with a good hierarchical structure. Also, many copper nanoparticles are formed on the surface of CNTs. The growth mechanisms of CNTs and copper nanoparticles are investigated in this paper. •In-situ growth of CNTs on the surface of CuO nanowires using CVD method.•The hierarchical structure is good for the electrochemical property of CW@CuO@CNTs.•Lots of copper nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of CNTs.