Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) coatings have various unique properties and are often used in applications such as transparent conductive films in photovoltaic systems. This study developed an atmospheric-pressure microplasma-enhanced ultrasonic spray pyrolysis system, which can prepare large-area ZnO coatings at low temperatures under atmospheric-pressure conditions. The addition of an atmospheric-pressure microplasma-assisted process helped improve the preparation of ZnO coatings under atmospheric conditions, compared to using a conventional ultrasonic spray pyrolysis process, effectively reducing the preparation temperature to 350 °C. A program-controlled three-axis platform demonstrated its potential for the large-scale synthesis of ZnO coatings. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the ZnO coatings prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis exhibited (002) preferred growth orientation and had a visible-light penetration rate of more than 80%. After vacuum treatment, the ZnO reached a 1.0 × 10−3 Ωcm resistivity and a transmittance of 82%. The tribology behavior of ZnO showed that the vacuum-annealed coating had a low degree of wear and a low coefficient of friction as the uniformly distributed and dense coating increased its load capacity.
Highlights
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a direct bandgap semiconductor material in the II–VI family of semiconductor compounds
ZnO is widely used in various applications, such as plasmonic metamaterials [1], laser materials [2], ultraviolet light sources [3], solar cell counter-electrodes [4], and transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) [5,6]
Badeker used a sputtering method to prepare cadmium oxide (CdO) [7], while Rupprecht discovered that indium (In) could be vacuum evaporated on a quartz plate
Summary
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a direct bandgap semiconductor material in the II–VI family of semiconductor compounds. It has a low free-radical excitation binding energy, a high melting point, good thermal conductivity, superior semiconducting characteristics, piezoelectric behavior, and photoconductive properties. ZnO is widely used in various applications, such as plasmonic metamaterials [1], laser materials [2], ultraviolet light sources [3], solar cell counter-electrodes [4], and transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) [5,6]. To increase the conductivity of semiconductor materials, compounds such as indium-doped tin oxide (ITO)—that is, using n-type doping—and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO), using p-type doping were developed [10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
