Effect of Metal Catalyst Morphology on the Growth of Zinc Oxide Nanostructure by Thermal Vapor Deposition Method

Abstract

This paper reports on the effects of gold (Au) catalyst on the growth of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures by thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD). The thickness of Au catalyst was varied from 5 to 15 nm. The Au catalyst was annealed at 500 °C prior to the deposition of ZnO nanostructures by thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD). The morphology of the Au catalyst at different thickness and also ZnO nanostructures were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The material component and crystalline properties of ZnO nanostructures were determined using Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and also Raman Spectroscopy respectively. We found that the shape of the deposited ZnO nanostructures were different on different thickness of Au catalyst. There was no growth of ZnO on the 5 nm thick Au observed by FESEM and supported by EDX due to very small amount of Zn. On the 10 and 15 nm thick Au, growth of ZnO nanostructures were clearly observed.