Study of nanosized Zinc Oxide on Cu–Zn alloy substrate using Taguchi method

Abstract

A Cu–Zn alloy with about 30 wt.% Zn was used as substrate for the growth of nanosized zinc oxides (ZnO). Before growth of ZnO, a Ni layer was coated on the substrate by electrodeposition technique. This Ni layer was used as a barrier against the diffusion of Zn and as a promoter for the growth of nanosized ZnO. The variables for the ZnO growth contained current density and time for electrodeposition of Ni layer, growth temperature, growth time, mixed gas flow rate, gas ratio of O 2/CH 4, flow rate of N 2 gas for carrying H 2O vapor, and temperature of water for producing H 2O vapor. The nanosized ZnOs were characterized by a scanning electron microscope for morphology and an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope for composition. The Taguchi method was used to find the optimum parameters for optimizing the growth of nanosized ZnOs. The result showed that the optimum conditions are: 6 A/dm 2 of electrodeposition current density, 30 s of electrodeposition time, 800 °C of growth temperature, 30 min of growth time, 100 sccm of mixed gas flow rate, 1:2 of O 2/CH 4 ratio, 300 sccm of N 2 gas, and 55 °C of water.