Fabrication and Characterization of ZnO Nanosheet on a Silver-metalized Polyimide Substrate

Abstract

ZnO nanosheets were fabricated on a silver-metalized polyimide (PI/Ag) substrate using electrochemical deposition. For a comparison, PI/Ag film was also obtained by electroless deposition. FE-SEM, XRD, UV–Vis absorption, and I-V measurements were employed to examine the structural, optical and electrical properties of silver-metalized PI film and ZnO deposited PI/Ag film. FE-SEM analysis indicated that a continuous silver film layer, consisted of spherical Ag nanoparticles, and the ZnO nanosheets were synthesized on PI substrate by electroless and electrochemical deposition, respectively. Moreover, the growth mechanism of the Ag film and ZnO nanosheets was also discussed. The characterization of X-ray diffraction verified that the ZnO nanosheets had a hexagonal phase and grew along the [002] direction. The optical absorbance spectra of bare PI, PI/Ag, and PI/Ag/ZnO showed a broad absorption peak around 300 nm. The electrical properties of the PI/Ag and PI/Ag/ZnO samples were studied by current-voltage (I-V) measurements in the dark environment at room temperature (300 K). The I-V measurements suggested that the samples presented ohmic characteristics. The results revealed that the deposition of ZnO on PI/Ag substrate improved the electrical conductivity compare with bare PI/Ag.