A Comparative Study on Structural and Optical Properties of ZnO Micro-Nanorod Arrays Grown on Seed Layers Using Chemical Bath Deposition and Spin Coating Methods

Abstract

In this study, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) seed layers were prepared on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrates by using Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) method and Sol-gel Spin Coating (SC) method. ZnO micro-nanorod arrays were grown on ZnO seed layers by using Hydrothermal Synthesis method. Seed layer effects of structural and optical properties of ZnO arrays were characterized. X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Ultraviolet Visible (UV-Vis) Spectrometer were used for analyses. ZnO micro-nanorod arrays consisted of a single crystalline wurtzite ZnO structure for each seed layer. Besides, ZnO rod arrays were grown smoothly and vertically on SC seed layer, while ZnO rod arrays were grown randomly and flower like structures on CBD seed layer. The optical absorbance peaks found at 422 nm wavelength in the visible region for both ZnO arrays. Optical bandgap values were determined by using UV-Vis measurements at 3.12 and 3.15 eV for ZnO micro-nanorod arrays on CBD seed layer and for ZnO micro-nanorod arrays on SC-seed layer respectively.

Facile growth of high transmittance ZnO micro-rod clusters on indium tin oxide by a wet-chemical synthesis method

“…All XRD peaks matched well with those of the wurtzite (hexagonal) ZnO. 30 The pattern shows the (100), (002), (101), (102), (112), (110), (103) and (112) peaks of the wurtzite ZnO crystal structure (JCPDS No. 36–1451).…”

“…One of the widely used techniques to determine the bandgap energy (Eg) of semiconductor materials is optical absorption spectroscopy. 18,30,44 Alternatively, the band gaps of semiconductors can be determined electrically. However, optical spectroscopy is easy to implement.…”