Fabriction of ZnO Nanorods with Strong UV Absorption and Different Hydrophobicity on Foamed Nickel under Different Hydrothermal Conditions

Abstract

ZnO nanorods have been grown on the surface of foamed nickel by a two-step method. Firstly, a layer of ZnO seed is sputtered on the surface of the foamed nickel by magnetron sputtering, and then the hydrothermal method is used to grow ZnO nanorods at different conditions (solution concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature). The results show that the morphology of ZnO nanorods is closely related to the solution concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature. The energy band structure formed by the foamed nickel and ZnO seed layers and the growth mechanism of ZnO nanorods are discussed. The samples are characterized by Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The absorption characteristics of samples to light are characterized by ultraviolet-to-visible (UV–VIS) absorption. The hydrophilicity of the samples is characterized by the static contact angle. By analyzing the performance characteristics of the samples at different conditions, we finally obtained the optimal growth parameters. At the optimal parameters, the morphology of the grown nanorods is regular, the ultraviolet band has strong absorption, and the surface of the samples forms a superhydrophobic surface.

Photocatalytic and Photo-Fenton Catalytic Degradation Activities of Z-Scheme Ag2S/BiFeO3 Heterojunction Composites under Visible-Light Irradiation

“…To further investigate the distribution of Ag 2 S on the surface of BiFeO 3 , the elemental mapping observation of 15% Ag 2 S/BiFeO 3 was performed, as shown in Figure 5. Figure 5a depicts the dark-field scanning TEM (DF-STEM) image of the composite, and Figure 5b–f display the corresponding elemental maps that are obtained according to the procedure described in the literature [69]. It was found that large-sized polyhedra show an elemental distribution of Bi, Fe and O, whereas the attached small particles contain the elements Ag and S. The result suggests that the Ag 2 S nanoparticles are uniformly anchored onto the surface of the polyhedral BiFeO 3 particles.…”

High-Performance Flexible Ultraviolet Photodetectors with Ni/Cu-Codoped ZnO Nanorods Grown on PET Substrates

“…The presence of transition metal ions in a ZnO host lattice can modify the electronic and magnetic characteristics of ZnO because of the exchange interaction of the electrons in d -orbitals of transition metals with the electrons of ZnO in s and p orbitals. Recently, much effort has been focused on pristine ZnO nanostructures grown on plastic substrates, but little work has been reported on UV PDs based on transition metal doped ZnO nanocrystals [22,23]. In particular, the progress of research on PD devices fabricated using Ni/Cu codoped ZnO nanorods grown on plastic substrates has been very limited.…”

Improvement of Vacuum Free Hybrid Photovoltaic Performance Based on a Well-Aligned ZnO Nanorod and WO3 as a Carrier Transport Layer

“…The WA-ZnO Nrods were synthesized using a modified hydrothermal method [28,29,30], a ZnO seed layer was coated on the ITO/glass substrate by a spin coating method. The ZnO seed layer was annealed at 300 °C to improve adhesion on the substrate, and form a stable structure and good morphology, which help grow well-aligned ZnO Nrods [31].…”