Investigation on the electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohol using zinc oxide thin films deposited by pulsed electrodeposition on an indium tin oxide surface

Abstract

To perform electro-catalytic oxidation of alcohols in an alkaline media, zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were effectively deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates using the pulsed electrodeposition (PE) method in a zinc nitrate aqueous solution. Analyses of microstructural, photoelectrochemical, and optical characteristics of ZnO thin films were performed as a function of pulsed electrodeposition parameters. XRD analysis was applied to determine structural properties, and SEM and AFM analysis were used to investigate morphological characteristics. X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that the produced films were polycrystalline and had a (002) preferentially oriented, hexagonal wurtzite structure. The morphology of ZnO has improved in the direction of nanorod films, as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images. UV transmittance data was used using Tauc's relationship to determine the film's bandgap to be 3.26 eV. The photocurrent response shows that ZnO films have high values, at 305.17 A/cm2, and good optical characteristics. The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol was finally evaluated on the films. After being optimized in the pulsed electrodeposition mode, ZnO thin film characteristics and methanol electrocatalytic oxidation both saw substantial improvements.