Direct Growth of ZnO Whiskers Bridging between Micron-Gap Electrodes in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) whiskers were directly synthesized onto the interdigital structured electrodes with 10μm gap through an aqueous solution process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, photoluminescence of the whiskers at room temperature and field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images showed that the main products were wurtzite ZnO whiskers like hexagonal columns. The whiskers obtained have more than 10μm long and several μm wide. A few whiskers which were strongly bridging the electrodes could be selectively left by applying ultrasonic waves for several ten minutes. Photoconductivity of the whiskers at 390nm was clearly seen with 5V bias. The same characters of whiskers are kept over a long period of time, more than 2months.