Effects of Components on the Photoelectric Properties of CuxO Nanotubes Fabricated by Using Thermal Oxidation of Copper Nanowires

Cu x O (Cupric Oxide) nanotubes (NTs) were synthesized by using thermal oxidation of Cu nanowires (NWs) for 2 and 4 hours, respectively, and the effect of the components on their photo-electrical properties due to the infrared (IR) light with a wavelength of 1064 nm were investigated. In the 2-h Cu x O NTs, the main component was Cu 2 O; however, the 4-h Cu x O NTs were composed of a mixture of CuO and Cu 2 O. The photoelectric properties showed that the voltage difference and the sensitivity of 4-h Cu x O NTs were more than 3 times those of the 2-h Cu x O NTs, and its linear range was only about one-third that of the 2-h Cu x O NTs. The above results were caused by the 4-h Cu x O NTs containing a higher content of CuO, which had a suitable bandgap of 1.2 eV for light with a wavelength of 1064 nm. In addition, the response and the recovery times for the 4-h NTs were on the same order as those of the 2-h NTs. The conclusions from this article indicated that 4-h and 2-h NTs were very promising for the design of IR photodetector device with higher sensitivity and a larger detection range respectively.