copper i nitride is an important metal with many applications in the electronics industry. It has a narrow bandgap and is able to absorb visible light and generate electron-hole pairs. These electron-hole pairs are useful for chemical reactions such as photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. copper i nitride also has high thermal stability and resists corrosion in water. It is a greenish material that is used in many structures including the Statue of Liberty, which was originally brown before it started to corrode.
The combined approach of the PVD method for obtaining copper layers with the ammonolysis reaction for fabricating complex 3D nitride materials is an effective synthetic pathway, especially when high surface area is required. This is a requirement for achieving more topographically variable structures that are difficult to fabricate using the conventional magnetron sputtering method alone.
X-ray diffraction showed that the structures formed from immersion of copper surfaces obtained by either PVD or electroplating in the ammonia solution exhibited complex compositions prior to thermal treatment. Registered X-ray diffraction spectra of the structures immersed in the 0.033 M (Figure 2a) and 0.066 M (Figure 2b) NH3 solutions for 48 h displayed reflections characteristic of CuO, Cu(OH)2 and metallic copper traces.
TEM images of the needle-shaped structures deposited on both types of copper surfaces confirmed the presence of nanocrystals. Immersion of the PVD-deposited copper surfaces in the ammonia solution induced growth of well-aligned, needle-shaped structures with an average length of 2-3 mm. These structures retained their shape and size during the ammonolysis reaction and thermal treatment.