Titania coated Zinc Oxide nanorods: A study of structural and optical properties for photocatalytic applications

Abstract

In the present work, we investigated the structural and optical properties of Titania (TiO2) coated Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanorods array developed using the low-cost technique. Initially, highly oriented ZnO nanorods were grown over FTO substrate using chemical bath deposition technique. Simultaneously, TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using low-temperature hydrothermal techniques and were spin-coated over the ZnO/FTO substrate. Further, the TiO2/ZnO/FTO heterostructure properties were characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy, Field Effect Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The FESEM result shows the formation of highly ordered hexagonal-shaped ZnO nanorods coated with spherical shaped Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles of radius ∼ 80 nm−100 nm. The transmission spectra observed from UV–Vis spectroscopy reveals the wideband semiconductor properties using the tauc plots. Further, the Raman profile confirms the synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles (anatase phase) and ZnO nanorods. Therefore, the obtained results prove Titania-coated-ZnO nanorods heterostructure a promising and suitable material for photocatalytic and photo-electrochemical applications.