Synthesis of PbS:ZnO nanotrees by thermal evaporation: morphological, structural and optical properties

Abstract

Nanotrees ZnO films are synthesized by thermal evaporation method on silicon and glass substrates. PbS powder (5 wt%) is used to obtain the nanostructure and growth modifications. ZnO films are compared with non-doped ones (ZnO film was dense structure without nanotrees). The deposited PbS:ZnO films exhibit polycrystalline orientation using X-ray diffraction (XRD), but the films without doping was less crystalline quality. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the morphology. SEM images (surface and cross section) was confirmed the nanotrees form for doped ZnO film. Energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX) was used to verify the composition of prepared films. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), photoluminescence (PL) and micro Raman techniques were used to investigate the optical properties. The PL spectra intensities were found to increase for PbS:ZnO nanotrees. Up to our knowledge, no work has been published regarding the obtained ZnO nanotrees using PbS as dopant via simple thermal evaporation method.