Preparation and Characterization of Copper Oxide Nanofibers by Microwave-Assisted Thermal Oxidation

In this work, copper oxide fibers were formed by using a microwave-assisted thermal oxidation in atmosphere. Only the pure copper powder was used to be a precursor and heated under microwave irradiation up to 12 min. The copper oxide fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Raman dynamic light scattering. SEM results showed that the diameters of the obtained copper oxide fibers were in the range of 500-5,500 nm, having average lengths about 2.5 cm with circular cylindrical shape and smooth surface. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of CuO and Cu₂O, which further confirmed by the EDS and Raman results. This effective method provides a simple idea to prepare metal-oxide fibers and has great potential to be used for large scale production.