Wet-Chemical Route to ZnO Nanowire-Layered Basic Zinc Acetate/ZnO Nanoparticle Composite Film

Abstract

ZnO nanowire-layered basic zinc acetate (LBZA)/ZnO nanoparticle (NP) composite films with different NP occupying extents have been synthesized using a simple wet-chemical route, i.e., aligned ZnO nanowire (NW) array first formed by an aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD) and then heterogeneous nucleation and growth of LBZA/ZnO NPs on the surface of ZnO NWs by another base-free CBD. The features of the composites from three-dimensional (3D) NW-nanosheet (NS) networks to dense NW-NP composite films and NW-NP composite films with flowerlike particles are able to be obtained easily by varying the NP growth period. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cathodoluminescence (CL) analyses indicate that the LBZA fraction and defect concentration in the composite film are increased with the NP growth period in the base-free chemical bath solution. Shifts of the ZnO (002) diffraction peak and UV emission peak with the NP growth period are observed at the series of composite films. HRTEM analyses indicate that there is no epitaxial relationship between the ZnO NW and ZnO NPs, suggesting that heterogeneous nucleation of LBZA structure on the surface of the ZnO NWs is crucial for the formation of the NW-NP composite using the base-free route. Photovoltaic measurements of the ZnO NW-LBZA/ZnO NP composite dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) show that the overall efficiency is affected by the LBZA fraction, defect concentration, and cracks within the NW-NP composite film.

Three-dimensional zno nanodendrite/nanoparticle composite solar cells

“…Aligned ZnO NW arrays were first grown on the seeded FTO substrates by CBD in a 0.02M aqueous solution of zinc acetate and hexamethylenetetramine at 95 D C for 3h. [6,8] The ZnO NW array/FTO substrate was immersed in an aqueous solution of ZnAc·2H20 and NaOH at 100 D C for 3.5h. Another base-free CBD was employed to synthesize ZnO NPs [6,8] within the interstices of ZnO ND arrays for 978-1-4244-5892-9/10/$26.00 ©201 0 IEEE the formation of ZnO ND/NP composite films.…”

“…[6,8] The ZnO NW array/FTO substrate was immersed in an aqueous solution of ZnAc·2H20 and NaOH at 100 D C for 3.5h. Another base-free CBD was employed to synthesize ZnO NPs [6,8] within the interstices of ZnO ND arrays for 978-1-4244-5892-9/10/$26.00 ©201 0 IEEE the formation of ZnO ND/NP composite films. The ZnO ND arrays were immersed in a 0.15 M methanolic solution of ZnAc·2H20 at 60 D C for 20.5h.…”

“…Fabrication of the mercurochrome-sensitized ZnO-based DSSC has been described in detail elsewhere. [6,8] RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 1 (a) shows that aligned ZnO NW array was grown on the FTO substrate using CBD. The diameters of the ZnO NWs are in the range of 30-70 nm and the length of the ZnO NWs is -3f..l m after a 3h CBD.…”

Synthesis and Gas Sensing Performance of Dandelion-Like ZnO with Hierarchical Porous Structure

“…6 29,30 etc., have been reported, and such a method will provide ZnO with the novel morphology which inherit from the precursor. In this work, we fabricated dandelion-like ZnO hierarchitectures composed by nanoparticles with different diameters by thermal treatment of dandelion-like precursor of a zinc complex.…”

Ordered Semiconductor Photoanode Films for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Zinc Oxide-Titanium Oxide Hybrid Nanostructures

“…An enhancement of power efficiency from 6.7% for pure nanoparticle cells to 8.6% for the composite cell with 20 wt% nanowires was achieved, showing that employing nanoparticle/nanowire composites represented a promising approach for further improving the efficiencies of DSCs. C. H. Ku et al reported ZnO nanowire/nanoparticle composite photoanodes with different nanoparticle-occupying extents (Ku et al, 2008). Aligned ZnO nanowires were grown on the seeded FTO substrate using an aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD) first, and then, growth of nanoparticles among ZnO NWs by another base-free CBD was preceded further for different periods.…”