Abstract
Cantilevers are really promising sensitive sensors despite their small surface. In order to increase this surface and consequently their sensitivity, we nanostructured them with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods or nanotubes having a diameter of approximately 100 nm and a length of 1 µm. The nanostructure growth was first optimized on a silicon wafer and then transferred to the cantilevers. The ZnO nanorods were grown in an autoclave. The centre of the nanorods was dissolved in order to obtain nanotubes. The dissolution conditions were optimized in order to have the longest etching depth. After 1.25 h in a dissolution solution containing 0.75 wt% of NH3(aq) and 0.75 wt% of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, the longest etching depth was obtained. After the transfer of the syntheses to the cantilevers, nanorods/nanotubes grew on both sides of the cantilever, which prevents the reflection of the laser allowing the resonance frequency measurement. A masking procedure was developed in order to avoid the growth on one face of the cantilever of zinc oxide nanostructures. As far as the authors are concerned, for the first time, zinc oxide nanotubes were synthesized on only one face of cantilevers with optical readout.
Highlights
One-dimensional (1D) inorganic nanostructures, such as nanorods and nanotubes, have been intensively studied over the last years due to their significance in basic scientific research and potential technological applications [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Ethylenediamine (C2H4(NH2)2, purity ≥ 99%) and zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2·2H2O, purity ≥ 98%), each purchased from Sigma Aldrich, were the two reactants used in the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod growth
The morphology and the size of the nanostructures were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), using a FEI Nova NanoSEM 450 equipped with a field emission gun
Summary
One-dimensional (1D) inorganic nanostructures, such as nanorods and nanotubes, have been intensively studied over the last years due to their significance in basic scientific research and potential technological applications [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. The growth of ZnO nanorods arrays on substrates can be obtained either using vapour phase syntheses or in solutions [11]. Zinc oxide nanotube arrays are almost always obtained by the dissolution of the centre of the nanorods previously synthesized. This dissolution can be done electrochemically [24], but the chemical dissolution is mostly used. Wang et al added a surfactant (cetyl trimethylammonium bromide) to the dissolution solution [31] This molecule is well known to be fixed to the (1000) plans and protect the wall of the 1D structure during the dissolution of the nanorods into nanotubes [32,33,34,35]. Our objective is to obtain nanotubes which are more open than Killinc’s nanotubes and to use a synthesis which can be adapted to every silicon commercial cantilever, which was not the case before this publication
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