Synthesis of zinc oxide nanostructures on graphene/glass substrate by electrochemical deposition: effects of current density and temperature

Abstract

The electrochemical growth of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures on graphene on glass using zinc nitrate hexahydrate was studied. The effects of current densities and temperatures on the morphological, structural, and optical properties of the ZnO structures were studied. Vertically aligned nanorods were obtained at a low temperature of 75°C, and the diameters increased with current density. Growth temperature seems to have a strong effect in generating well-defined hexagonal-shape nanorods with a smooth top edge surface. A film-like structure was observed for high current densities above -1.0 mA/cm2 and temperatures above 80°C due to the coalescence between the neighboring nanorods with large diameter. The nanorods grown at a temperature of 75°C with a low current density of -0.1 mA/cm2 exhibited the highest density of 1.45 × 109 cm-2. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the grown ZnO crystallites were highly oriented along the c-axis. The intensity ratio of the ultraviolet (UV) region emission to the visible region emission, IUV/IVIS, showed a decrement with the current densities for all grown samples. The samples grown at the current density below -0.5 mA/cm2 showed high IUV/IVIS values closer to or higher than 1.0, suggesting their fewer structural defects. For all the ZnO/ graphene structures, the high transmittance up to 65% was obtained at the light wavelength of 550 nm. Structural and optical properties of the grown ZnO structures seem to be effectively controlled by the current density rather than the growth temperature. ZnO nanorod/graphene hybrid structure on glass is expected to be a promising structure for solar cell which is a conceivable candidate to address the global need for an inexpensive alternative energy source.