Fabrication and electrical characterization of highly ordered copper nanowires

The template-assisted electrodeposition technique has been employed to synthesize highly ordered: uniformly dense, well-aligned, parallel and homogeneous copper nanowires. Their morphological studies have been carried out using the scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The X-ray diffraction study exhibits cubic structure of the nanowires and their preferred orientation along the direction [111]. Their elemental composition has been done by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The photoluminiscence spectra of copper nanowires show two excitation peaks at 209 and 268 nm; both these absorption pathways yield fluorescence at 296 nm. Their UV–Vis absorption spectra have been found to give a prominent peak at 570 nm. The current–voltage characteristics of the nanowires reveal their non-linear behavior. The impedance spectroscopy has also been carried out and it shows an increase in their impedance at higher frequencies.