A strategy for creating nanostructured films is the alignment of nanoparticles into ordered superstructures as living organisms synthesize biomaterials with superior physical properties using nanoparticle building blocks. We synthesized nanostructured films of Cu2O of variable grain size by establishing the condition of supersaturation for creation of nanoparticles of copper which deposited as nanograined films and which was then oxidized. This technique has the advantage of being compatible with conventional vacuum processes for electronic device fabrication. The Cu2O film samples consisted of a secondary structure of spherical particles of almost uniform size, each particle being an agglomerate of primary nanocrystals. Fractal analysis of the AFM images of the samples is carried out for studying the aggregation mechanism. Grain size tuning of the nanostructured Cu2O films has been studied using XRD, and micro-Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy.

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CuO-ZnO nanocomposite films were synthesized through the oxidation of nanostructured Cu-Zn films deposited by vacuum deposition technique at a relatively high pressure of an inert gas. XRD patterns showed that the film samples were nanocomposites containing nanograins of CuO and ZnO and that the size of the CuO grains decreased with the increase in the Zn atom %. Optical absorption and Raman spectra confirmed the samples to be nanocomposites. The decrease in the activation energy for DC conduction and the enhancement in the photocurrent in the CuO-ZnO nanocomposite films with the increase in the atom % of Zn were attributed to an efficient interfacial charge transfer between the CuO and ZnO grains.

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