txchnologist: From these seeds, new touchscreens and solar cells may grow. Duke University chemists
From these seeds, new touchscreens and solar cells may grow. Duke University chemists are working with copper oxide nanoparticles–each in the pic above is less than a micron wide–to grow copper nanowires. The process could one day allow transparent conductive films made of copper nanowires to supplement or replace the more expensive material now used in touchscreens and photovoltaic solar panels.
“The fact that Cu [copper] is only 6 percent less conductive than the most conductive element, Ag [silver], and yet is 1,000 times more abundant, makes it a particularly attractive element from which to grow nanowires for a diverse range of applications that require high electrical conductivity,” wrote the authors of study published in the journal Small.
When placed in the right solution, the octahedral cuprous oxide (Cu2O) seeds shown above sprout nanowires within minutes. The Duke team’s work is continuing efforts to control the length of nanowire growth to improve their performance in different applications.
