Abstract
We report the influence of ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), as growth additive, on zinc oxide nanomaterial through the optical response obtained by photoluminescence (PL). A low-temperature hydrothermal process is employed for the growth of ZnO nanowires (NWs) on seedless Au surface. A more than two order of magnitude change in ZnO NW density is demonstrated via careful addition of NH4OH in the growth solution. Further, we show by systematic experimental study and PL characterization data that the addition of NH4OH can degrade the optical response of ZnO NWs produced. The increase of growth solution basicity with the addition of NH4OH may slowly degrade the optical response of NWs by slowly etching its surfaces, increasing the point defects in ZnO NWs. The present study demonstrates the importance of growth nutrients to obtain quality controlled density tunable ZnO NWs on seedless conducting substrates.
Highlights
Significant developments in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials via bottom-up approaches are offering high-quality materials for the development of next-generation efficient electronic devices [1–5]
The mechanism behind the NW density variation with NH4OH addition can be found in Boubenia et al [5], where the authors hypothesized that the amount of ammonium hydroxide has a direct effect over the concentration of Zn (II) complexes which largely affects the Zn solubility in the solution
With a careful addition of ammonium hydroxide in the growth solution, ZnO NW density can be controlled over two orders of magnitude
Summary
Significant developments in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials via bottom-up approaches are offering high-quality materials for the development of next-generation efficient electronic devices [1–5]. The ZnO’s field of research has shown resurgence in interest after the successful demonstration of the growth of single-crystalline nanostructures (nanobelt) [6]. Thereafter, the use of high-quality, single-crystalline semiconducting ZnO nanostructures for the assembly of high-performance electronics continues to attract enormous research interest in the field of displays [7, 8], logic circuits [9, 10], sensors [11, 12], and optoelectronics [13]. It has been shown that, in nanostructured ZnO, defects play a central role in defining the electronic device performances, as for sensors [18] and/or nanogenerators [17, 19], by controlling free charge density, minority carrier life time, and luminescence efficiency. A perfect control over the quality of ZnO nanomaterial produced is essential to build a high-performance electronic device
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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.
