Dependence of growth conditions on copper germanate nanowires and their electrochemical characteristics

Copper germanate (CuGeO3) nanowires have been synthesized by the hydrothermal deposition process using GeO2 and copper foil as the resource as well as the deposition substrate. The factors including hydrothermal temperature, pressure and duration of the process were investigated in order to analyze the processing parameters that control the formation process, morphology and size of the nanowires. The dependence of the nanowires properties on the growth conditions shows that the CuGeO3 nanowires can be synthesized in a large range of different hydrothermal parameters from 400 °C to 250 °C. The hydrothermal pressure has an important effect on the formation and growth of the CuGeO3 nanowires. The CuGeO3 nanowires exhibit good electrochemical cyclic voltammetry characteristics owing to offering many advantages in sensing applications including their small size, high aspect ratio and conductance.