ZnO Nanorods Grown Electrochemically on Different Metal Oxide Underlays

Abstract

In this study we present results on electrochemically grown ZnO nanorods on different metal oxide underlays, such as ZnO seed layers with different morphologies, ZnS and TiO2 compact thin films produced by spray pyrolysis on transparent conductive oxide (TCO) substrates. Also in this work we present results on ZnO nanorods directly deposited on some chosen TCO substrates. The relationship between nanorod formation and substrate properties were studied. All ZnO nanorod layers were grown electrochemically using ZnCl2 aqueous solutions (c=0.2 mmol/L) at the bath temperature of 80 °C during one hour. The structural properties and morphology of metal oxide underlays and ZnO nanorods grown on them were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD). Depending on the substrate morphology, ZnO rods with different dimension, orientation, shape and density were obtained. For instance, larger rods (d~200 nm, l~700 nm) were obtained on substrates, such as ITO/glass, FTO/glass and ZnO:In/ITO/glass. Smaller rods (d~60 nm, l~350 nm) were obtained on smooth, uniform and fine-grained underlays, such as ZnS and TiO2.