A Facile Approach of Fabricating Various ZnO Microstructures via Electrochemical Deposition

Abstract

A facile electrochemical route was proposed for the shape-selective synthesis of ZnO structures on conductive substrates. Our strategy for designing ZnO structures was based on a double-electrodes electrochemical deposition approach, in which the well-oriented ZnO structures with variable morphology on different conductive substrates could be adjusted by monitoring electrochemical parameters (e.g., zinc chloride concentration, deposition potential, and deposition temperature). The variation in deposition parameters led to the ZnO formation of different structures, such as ZnO flowers, sheets and aggregates. In addition, the analysis of I-V characteristics illustrated that the ZnO flowers were composed of sheets clustered on the graphite substrate and exhibited higher dark current than other structures. Furthermore, the remarkable Schottky contact behaviour was found for ZnO flowers deposited on carbon paper and copper foil substrates. This work demonstrates a simple method for tuning the growth of desired ZnO structures and exploring its application in functional optoelectronic devices.