Diffusional Solid-State Transformation for the Formation of Copper Oxide Nanowires During the Thermal Oxidation Process

The solid-state transformation theory has been used to describe the formation of CuO nanowires during the oxidation of Cu metal in air. In order to fill the gaps of the nucleation mechanism of CuO nanowires, a quantitative model has been founded based on the classical nucleation theory, and the results show that the formation of the CuO nanowires is controlled by a solid solution precipitation process under steady-state heterogeneous nucleation circumstances, which will provide beneficial references for the analysis and preparation of metal oxide nanowires of other metal elements.