Effect of seed layer on the growth of well-aligned ZnO nanowires

We demonstrate that vertical well-aligned crystalline ZnO nanowire arrays were grown on ZnO/glass substrates by a low-temperature solution method. Different thicknesses of ZnO seed layers on glass substrates were prepared by radio-frequency sputtering. In this work it was found that the morphology of ZnO nanowires strongly depends on the thickness of ZnO seed layers. The average diameter of nanowires is increased from 50 to 130 nm and the nanowire density is decreased from 110 to 60 μm⁻² while the seed layer thickness is varied from 20 to 1000 nm. The improved control of the morphology of ZnO nanowire arrays may lead to an enhanced carrier collection of hybrid polymer photovoltaic devices based on ZnO.     

树形结构Si/ZnO纳米线阵列的制备及光学性能

用一种低成本的方法制备出了树形结构Si/ZnO纳米线阵列。首先在室温条件下用金属辅助化学腐蚀法在Si(100)衬底上制备了Si纳米线阵列,Si纳米线的直径尺寸及分布都很均匀,通过改变腐蚀时间,能够得到高度不同的Si纳米线阵列。利用磁控溅射在Si纳米线表面制备一层ZnO薄膜,然后利用水热法在Si纳米线阵列上生长了ZnO纳米线。通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、能谱分析仪(EDS)和光致发光(PL)测试对样品进行了表征。通过这种方法制备的Si/ZnO复合结构在太阳能电池、光催化等领域有潜在应用价值。     

Growth of vertically aligned one-dimensional ZnO nanowire arrays on sol–gel derived ZnO thin films

Vertically aligned one-dimensional ZnO nanowire arrays have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method on sol–gel derived ZnO films. Sol–gel derived ZnO films and corresponding ZnO nanowire arrays have been characterized by X-ray diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The effect of sol–gel derived ZnO film surface on the morphology of ZnO nanowire arrays has been investigated. The authors suggest from our investigation that sol–gel derived ZnO films affect the growth of one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures. Not only crystalline ZnO films but also amorphous ones can act as a scaffold for ZnO nucleus. Tilted ZnO micro-rods are grown on ZnO gel films, whereas vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays are grown on nanometer-sized ZnO grains. The average diameter of ZnO nanowire arrays are correlated strongly with the grain size of sol–gel derived ZnO films.     

海胆状ZnO纳米线阵列的制备及其光学性能

采用一种低成本的有效方法制备出了有序排列的海胆状ZnO纳米线阵列。首先利用自组装的方法得到了单层的聚苯乙烯(PS)小球,以其为模板用水热法在小球表面生长ZnO纳米线,得到了由PS小球和ZnO纳米线构成的海胆状结构。纳米线的直径均一,长度可通过水热反应时间进行控制。利用这种方法制备的一维ZnO纳米结构在传感器、太阳能电池及光催化领域有潜在的应用价值。     

低温CVD法在玻璃衬底上制备ZnO纳米线阵列

采用化学气相沉积(CVD)法在镀Cr(20nm)的玻璃衬底上,低温制备了ZnO纳米线阵列。利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和X射线衍射(XRD)对样品的表面形貌和微结构进行了分析表征。结果表明:源分解温度1350℃,衬底温度450～500℃,氩气流量为35sccm时,ZnO纳米线在玻璃衬底上呈现有序生长;XRD谱图中只观测到ZnO(002)衍射峰。表明制备的纳米线阵列具有高度c轴择优取向生长特性和较高的结晶质量。     

Growth of self-assembled ZnO nanowire arrays

This paper reports on ZnO nanowires arrays synthesized using Sn as a catalyst. The Sn particles were produced from the reduction of SnO₂ powders via a vapour-solid growth process. Control of growth conditions led to the formation of ZnO nanowire arrays, radial nanowire ‘flowers’ and uniaxial fuzzy nanowires. ZnO nanowire–nanobelt junctions were also grown by changing the growth direction. As-grown nanowire arrays could be fundamental materials for investigating physical and chemical properties at nano-scale dimensions.     

Characterizations of low-temperature electroluminescence from ZnO nanowire light-emitting arrays on the p-GaN layer

Low-temperature electroluminescence from ZnO nanowire light-emitting arrays is reported. By inserting a thin MgO current blocking layer in between ZnO nanowire and p-GaN, high-purity UV light emission at wavelength 398 nm was obtained. As the temperature is decreased, contrary to the typical GaN-based light emitting diodes, our device shows a decrease of optical output intensity. The results are associated with various carrier tunneling processes and frozen MgO defects.     

Aligned growth of ZnO nanowires and lasing in single ZnO nanowire optical cavities

Ordered ZnO nanowire arrays have been fabricated in N₂ background gas by catalyst-free nanoparticle-assisted pulsed-laser deposition. A single ZnO nanowire was collected in an electrode gap by dielectrophoresis. Under the optical pumping above an exciting laser (λ= 355 nm) threshold of ∼ 334 kW/cm², ultraviolet lasing action in a single ZnO nanowire was observed at room temperature, indicating that the as-synthesized nanowires in pure N₂ background gas are of high quality. The crystalline facets of both ends of the nanowire acted to form an optical cavity. Therefore, the mode spacings corresponding to cavity lengths of the respective nanowires were observed in photoluminescence spectra. PACS 78.66.Hf; 81.07.Bc; 78.67.-n; 81.16.Mk     

Controllable hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanowires arrays on Al-doped ZnO seed layer and patterning of ZnO nanowires arrays via surface modification of substrate

ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays are assembled on the Al-doped ZnO (AZO) seed layer by a hydrothermal process. Effects of the temperature and growth time of the hydrothermal process on morphological and photoluminescence properties of the as-assembled ZnO NW arrays are characterized and studied. Results indicate that the length and diameter of the ZnO NWs increase with a lengthening of the growth time at 80 °C and the hydrothermal temperature has a significant effect on the growth rate and the photoluminescence properties of the ZnO NW arrays. The patterned AZO seed layer is fabricated on a silicon substrate by combining a sol-gel process with an electron-beam lithography process, as well as a surface fluorination technique, and then the ZnO NW arrays are selectively grown on those patterned regions of the AZO seed layer by the hydrothermal process. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra of the patterned ZnO NW arrays shows that only a strong UV emission at about 380 nm is observed, which implies that few crystal defects exist inside the as-grown ZnO NW arrays.     

Growth and characterization of type-II ZnO/ZnTe core-shell nanowire arrays for solar cell applications

Large area, well-aligned type-II ZnO/ZnTe core-shell nanowire arrays have been fabricated on an a-plane sapphire substrate. The ZnO nanowires were grown in a furnace by chemical vapor deposition with gold as catalyst and then were coated with a ZnTe shell on the ZnO nanowires surface by a metal-organic chemical deposition chamber. The morphology and size distribution of the ZnO/ZnTe core-shell nanowire arrays were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the crystal structure was examined by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Transmission measurement was used to study the optical properties of the core-shell nanowires. The results indicated that the ZnO/ZnTe core-shell nanowire arrays have good crystalline quality. In addition, it was found that the nanowire arrays have good light absorption characteristics and these properties make it suitable for making photovoltaic devices.     

Synthesis and characterization of highly-ordered ZnO/PbS core/shell heterostructures

The strategy to manipulate nanoscale building blocks into well-organized heterostructures is very important to both material synthesis and nanodevice applications. In this work, highly-ordered ZnO/PbS core/shell nanowire arrays were fabricated by a facile and low temperature chemical route. Large area and well-aligned ZnO nanowire arrays were firstly fabricated on conductive glass substrates, and then the synthesis of ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/PbS core/shell nanowire arrays were realized by a chemical conversion method. The morphology, structure, and composition of the obtained nanostructures were confirmed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and X-ray diffraction measurements. The optical properties of the synthesized nanostructures were investigated by micro-Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. In the synthesized ZnO/PbS core/shell nanowire arrays, the ZnO cores can provide direct conduction pathways for electron transport and PbS shells possess superior photoelectric performance. Therefore, the obtained ZnO/PbS core/shell nanostructures may have potential application in photovoltaic devices.     

Growth mechanism studies of ZnO nanowire arrays via hydrothermal method

Well-controlled ZnO nanowire arrays have been synthesized using the hydrothermal method, a low temperature and low cost synthesis method. The process consists of two steps: the ZnO buffer layer deposition on the substrate by spin-coating and the growth of the ZnO nanowire array on the seed layer. We demonstrated that the microstructure and the morphology of the ZnO nanowire arrays can be significantly influenced by the main parameters of the hydrothermal method, such as pH value of the aqueous solution, growth time, and solution temperature during the ZnO nanowire growth. Scanning electron microscopy observations showed that the well oriented and homogeneous ZnO nanowire arrays can be obtained with the optimized synthesis parameters. Both x-ray diffraction spectra and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) observations revealed a preferred orientation of ZnO nanowires toward the c-axis of the hexagonal Wurtzite structure, and HRTEM images also showed an excellent monocrystallinity of the as-grown ZnO nanowires. For a deposition temperature of 90 °C, two growth stages have been identified during the growth process with the rates of 10 and 3 nm/min, respectively, at the beginning and the end of the nanowire growth. The ZnO nanowires obtained with the optimized growth parameters owning a high aspect ratio about 20. We noticed that the starting temperature of seed layer can seriously influence the nanowire growth morphology; two possible growth mechanisms have been proposed for the seed layer dipped in the solution at room temperature and at a high temperature, respectively.     

Synthesis and piezoelectric properties of?well-aligned ZnO?nanowire arrays via a?simple solution-phase approach

An effective, low cost and catalyst-free solution-phase approach was demonstrated for achieving a tailored length and controlled surface-to-volume ratio of aligned ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays. By a slight variation of the solution concentration and growth time, significant changes in length and surface-to-volume ratio of the obtained ZnO NW arrays have been controlled, respectively. The morphology and microstructure of the synthesized products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Also the growth mechanism was discussed. For the study of the piezoelectric property of aligned ZnO NW arrays, some measuring models of nanogenerators (NGs) were fabricated with two pieces of grown ZnO NW array structures stacking together and penetrating into each other. One of the pieces was coated with Au film as the conductive nanotip (NTP) array. The NG was driven by an ultrasonic wave. The piezoelectric output current was gained and characteristic curves have been illustrated for different measuring results. The curves show that increasing the length and surface-to-volume ratios of ZnO NW arrays can enhance the output power of the NGs, respectively. It can be seen that the NGs fabricated with size-controlled ZnO NW arrays provide a feasible technology for building high-power output or power-controlled NGs for applications where a smaller size or appointed power output NGs are required. However, no relationship was found between the piezoelectric current output and the driving frequency of ultrasonic waves from 10 to 50 kHz.     

Control growth of catalyst-free high-quality ZnO nanowire arrays on transparent quartz glass substrate by chemical vapor deposition

ZnO nanowire arrays have been successfully synthesized on transparent quartz glass substrate by chemical vapor deposition technique. Our work demonstrates the critical role of the growth temperature and the buffer layer on the effective control of the morphology of ZnO nanowires. A proper growth temperature and the thicker buffer layer could promise the good alignment and high density of the nanowires. The room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum shows that the buffer layer has also great effects on optical properties of ZnO nanowire arrays. The integrated intensity ratio [I_UV/I_{Visible band}] of the ZnO UV emission peak to visible band emission decreases with the increase of the thickness of the buffer layers. The obtained nanowire arrays have transmittance of above 50% in the visible region.     

Well vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays with an ultra-fast recovery time for UV photodetector

Well-crystallized ZnO nanowire arrays were grown on GaN/sapphire by one-step chemical vapor deposition under control of the fabrication pressure of 1000–2500 Pa and the best-aligned arrays were obtained at 1000 Pa. A photoluminescence study shows a red shift with nanowire diameter increase. Under 365-nm UV irradiation of 0.3 mW/cm², the photoresponse study of the best ZnO arrays shows an ultra-fast tri-exponential rise with three constants of 0.148, 0.064 and 0.613 s, and a bi-exponential decay behavior with two recovery constants of 30 and 270 ms. The ZnO/GaN heterojunction barriers could be responsible for the ultra-fast tri-exponential rise and bi-exponential decay behavior.     

ZnO nanowire lines and bundles: Template-deformation-guided alignment for patterned field-electron emitters

One-dimensional ZnO materials have been promising for field-emission (FE) application, but how to facially control the alignment of ZnO emitters is still a great challenge especially for patterned display application. Here, we report the fabrication of novel ZnO nanowire (NW) line and bundle arrays for patterned field-electron emitters. The effects of PS template size and heating time on the resulted ZnO nanoarrays were systematically studied. The deformation degree of PS templates was controlled and hence utilized to adjust the alignment of electrochemically deposited ZnO arrays. It was found that the length of NW lines and the density of NW bundles can effectively tuned by the PS template heating time. The optimal FE performance with turn-on electric field as low as of 4.4 V μm⁻¹ and the field-enhancement factor as high as of 1450 were achieved through decreasing the screening effect among the patterned field-electron emitters.     

ZnO薄膜的性质对水热生长ZnO纳米线阵列的影响

用水热法在ZnO薄膜上制备了直径、密度及取向可控的ZnO纳米线阵列。ZnO薄膜是通过原子层沉积(ALD)方法制备并在不同温度下退火处理得到的,退火温度对ZnO薄膜的晶粒尺寸、结晶质量和缺陷性质有很大的影响。而ZnO薄膜的性质对随后生长的ZnO纳米线的直径、密度及取向能起到调节控制的作用。通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)仪和光致发光(PL)测试对ZnO薄膜和ZnO纳米线进行了表征。最后得到的垂直取向的ZnO纳米线阵列适合在发光二极管和太阳能电池等领域使用。     

Integration of ZnO nanowires in gated field emitter arrays for large-area vacuum microelectronics applications

Addressable field emitter arrays (FEAs) have important applications in vacuum electronic devices. However, it is important to integrate nanowire emitters into a gated structure without influencing the device structure and maintain the excellent field emission properties of nanowire emitters in the FEAs after the fabrication process. In this study, gate-structure ZnO nanowire FEAs were fabricated by a microfabrication process. The structure combines a planar gate and an under-gate, which is compatible with the preparation of ZnO nanowire emitters. The effect of electrode materials on the field emission properties of ZnO nanowires was studied using a diode structure, and it was found that ZnO nanowire pads on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrode showed better field emission performance compared with chromium (Cr) electrode. In addition, effective emission current modulation by the gate voltage was achieved and the addressing capability was demonstrated by integrating the ZnO nanowire FEAs in a vacuum-encapsulated field emission display. The reported technique could be a promising route to achieve large area addressable FEAs.     

Pd颗粒表面修饰ZnO纳米线阵列的制备及其气敏特性

采用化学气相沉积(CVD)方法在SiO_2/Si衬底生长了ZnO纳米线阵列,纳米线长约为15μm,直径为100~500 nm。通过改变溅射沉积时间(0~150 s),在ZnO纳米线表面包覆了不同厚度的Pd薄膜。在Ar气氛中,经800℃高温退火后,制备出Pd颗粒表面修饰的ZnO纳米线阵列并对其进行了气敏测试。对于乙醇而言,所有传感器最佳工作温度均为280℃。溅射时间的增加(3~10 s)导致ZnO纳米线表面Pd纳米颗粒数量及尺寸增加,传感器响应值由2.0增至3.6。过长的溅射时间(30~150 s)将导致Pd颗粒尺寸急剧增大甚至形成连续膜,传感器响应度显著降低。所有传感器对H2均表现出相对较好的选择性,传感器具有较好的响应-恢复特性和稳定性。最后,探讨了Pd颗粒表面修饰对ZnO纳米线阵列气敏传感器气敏特性的影响机制。     

Emerging of Ag particles on ZnO nanowire arrays for blue-ray hologram storage

Noble-metal/metal-oxide-semiconductor nanostructures as an important material platform have been applied in massive data storage. ZnO exhibits excellent optical modulation ability. However, plasmon induced charge separation effect in Ag/ZnO systems is very weak due to the low chemical activity on surface of the oxide. Herein, we prepare ZnO nanowire arrays via the hydrothermal method, and measure their absorption spectra, photoluminescence spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance, proving the existence of oxygen defects in ZnO. Accordingly, an idea of "electron reverse transfer" is proposed such that blue-ray (403.4 nm) induces reduction of Ag⁺ ions through the excitation of ZnO. Rod-like and spherical silver nanoparticles emerge on the surface and in the gap of ZnO nanowire arrays, respectively, after the visible light stimulus. It is found that nanowire density, oxygen defects and surface roughness are dependent on hydrothermal time. The optimized diffraction efficiency of 0.08% is obtained for reconstructing hologram in the nanocomposite film. This work provides a bright way for construction of ZnO-based optoelectronic integrated devices.