Nanolaminates are of great interest for their unique properties such as high dielectric constants and advanced mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. Here we report on the tuning of optical and structural properties of Al 2 O 3 /ZnO nanolaminates designed by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Structural properties of nanolaminates were studied by SEM, GIXRD, and AFM. Optical characterization was performed by transmittance and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Complex study of monolayer properties was performed by ellipsometry. Optical constants for Al 2 O 3 and ZnO monolayer were calculated. The band gap of ZnO single layers and the excitonic PL peak position were shifted to the UV region related to quantum confinement effects. No peaks in the UV region were observed in nanolaminates with 2 nm ZnO single layer thickness due to fully depleted region in small crystalline grains (<2 nm). The improved room temperature photoluminescence of nanolaminates makes them prominent materials for optical biosensors applications.
Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and graphene (G) have been extensively studied because of their unique physical properties. Here, Graphene-Zinc Oxide (G/ZnO) nanolaminates were fabricated, respectively, by chemical vapor deposition and low temperature atomic layer deposition technique. The number of obtained G/ZnO layers was tuned from 1 to 11 with a total thickness of 100 nm for all prepared nanolaminates. The structure, optical properties and interaction between G and ZnO were studied by X-ray methods, TEM, AFM, Raman and optical spectroscopy. The obtained results were interpreted and analysed taking into account strain and charge effects of graphene in G/ZnO nanostructures. We demonstrate that the bottom graphene used as a substrate stimulated the formation of ZnO crystalline structure. n-doping of graphene caused by charge transfer from ZnO to graphene has been detected by blue-shift of G-band of Raman spectra of the nanolaminates. ZnO photoluminescence intensity was found to be dependent on the number of graphene layers in G/ZnO nanolaminate. n-doping of graphene could be tailored by controlling the construction of the G/ZnO nanolaminates for variety of applications such as, for example, selective adsorption of the target molecules on graphene surface. Thus, G/ZnO nanolaminates may find applications in optical, bio-and chemical sensors.
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