Patterning and fusion of CuO nanorods with a focused laser beam

Abstract

We report a simple technique that facilitates the micropatterning of an aligned array of CuO nanorods on a substrate as well as the fusion of the nanorods into fused junctions. The technique utilizes a focused laser beam from a He-Ne laser with moderate power to melt away the pointed end of as-grown CuO nanorods resulting in the formation of microballs at the tips of the truncated nanorods. The size of the microballs and the length of the truncated CuO nanorods were found to be dependent on the laser power used during the process. The nature of the microballs formed was investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Such a focused beam provides an effective means to modify the morphology of the as-grown nanorod array and to pattern the aligned CuO nanorod array into interesting and potentially useful configurations. In addition, the focused laser beam was utilized to fuse and join nanorods, which could potentially be useful in the fabrication of nanorod circuits and network repair. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.