Abstract
A perfect control of nanostructure growth is a prerequisite for the development of electronic and optoelectronic device/systems. In this article, we demonstrate the growth of various ZnO-derived nanostructures, including well-ordered arrays of high aspect ratio single crystalline nanowires with preferred growth direction along the [0001] axis, nanowalls, and hybrid nanowire-nanowall structures. The growths of the various ZnO nanostructures have been carried out on SiC substrates in a horizontal furnace, using Au thin film as catalyst. From experimental observations, we have ascribed the growth mechanisms of the different ZnO nanostructures to be a combination of catalytic-assisted and non-catalytic-assisted vapor–liquid-solid (VLS) processes. We have also found that the different ZnO nanoarchitectures' material evolution is governed by a Zn cluster drift effects on the SiC surface mainly driven by growth temperature. Au thin film thickness, growth time, and temperature are the parameters to optimize in order to obtain the different ZnO nanoarchitectures.
Highlights
Extensive research efforts have been recently dedicated to the synthesis of high-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures, targeting high-performance electronic and optoelectronic applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Kumar et al [10] successfully demonstrated the growth of NWs, NWLs, and hybrid nanowirenanowall (NW-NWL) in which material morphology was optimized by careful control of the metal layer (Au) thickness
Experimental work presented here suggests that the nanomaterial synthesis temperature effectively controlled the Zn cluster drift phenomenon, responsible for the formation of the various studied ZnO nanostructures
Summary
Extensive research efforts have been recently dedicated to the synthesis of high-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures, targeting high-performance electronic and optoelectronic applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Devices such as field-effect transistors [1], sensors [2], field emission [3] photovoltaic [4], room temperature UV lasers [5], and light-emitting diodes [6] have already been investigated in the literature. Despite these several reports of different ZnO nanostructure growth processes, the exact mechanism responsible for the evolution of the different nanostructures is still not fully understood
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