Growth and characterization of ZnO nanowire arrays electrodeposited into anodic alumina templates in DMSO solution

ZnO nanowire arrays were grown by potentiostatic cathodic electrodeposition on aluminum anodic oxide template (AAO) from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solutions containing zinc chloride and molecular oxygen as precursors. The nanowires presented high aspect ratio and exhibited a very high crystallinity with a wurtzite crystal structure with preferential orientation along the (0001) crystallographic axis. Chronoamperometric experiments were performed on gold bulk electrodes in order to model this preferential mode growth of ZnO nanowires, which has not been previously reported for similar precursors in DMSO solution. The analysis of the corresponding chronoamperograms revealed that chloride ions influence the oxide nucleation and growth mechanism. It was found that in the absence of KCl as a supporting electrolyte, the data fitted an instantaneous three-dimensional diffusion-controlled (IN-3D)_diff nucleation and growth mechanism (NGM). The presence of KCl, instead favored a progressive three-dimensional (PN-3D)_diff NGM. With these results, a model for the more complex nanowire’s growth inside the pores of the AAO template is proposed.