Fabrication and characterisation of flower‐like ZnO nanostructures grown chemically on flexible PEN substrate

Abstract

Flower-like ZnO nanostructures were successfully produced on a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate through a chemical bath deposition method. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and ultraviolet-visible were utilised to investigate the structural and optical properties of grown flower-like ZnO nanostructures. FESEM image indicates that fabricated ZnO nanostructures formed from the ZnO nanoflowers with different shape and the petals of the ZnO nanoflower grow symmetrically and radially from the centre. XRD pattern of the ZnO nanoflowers indicate that the ZnO nanorods of the nanoflowers were preferentially grown along the c-axis. The PL results of the ZnO nanoflowers exhibited a strong violet and indigo emission peaks are centred approximately at 413 and 425 nm, respectively.