Chemically Synthesized Hierarchical Flower like ZnO Microstructures

Abstract

In the present study, we have deposited hierarchical flower-like microstructured zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films directly on a glass substrate by using the simplistic aqueous chemical route for different concentrations of triethanolamine (TEA) which acted like a complexing agent. The as-synthesized ZnO thin films were subsequently annealed at 300 °C and are characterized with characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), photoluminescence (PL), and electrical resistivity. The hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure of as-synthesized ZnO thin films was confirmed by their XRD patterns and the well-resolved ZnO flowers-like morphology was revealed from the FESEM micrographs. From FESEM images it can be seen that the ZnO flower is composed of dozens of nanorods originating from the same core in a symmetric fashion with an average diameter of around 180-300 nm. The flower-like morphology was obtained at 0.3 M TEA concentration. Due to its hierarchical structure, the deposited ZnO thin films were employed for multiple applications such as gas sensing and anti-microbial activity. The ZnO thin films with micro-flowers like morphology showed the maximum gas sensor sensitivity ∼64.50 at 150 °C for 100 ppm of NO2 gas. Moreover, the bacteria were completely destroyed in the presence of as-deposited ZnO thin films.

Indium doped ZnO nanorods for chemiresistive NO2 gas sensors

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One‐Pot Synthesis of ZnO Nanorods for LPG Sensing Applications

“…[ 5 ] Among these, 1D ZnO nanostructures, such as nanorods, nanowires, nanobelts, and nanotubes have attracted a great research interest because of their scientific and technological applications. [ 6 ] ZnO is an n‐type semiconductor (e.g., 3.37 eV) with a large exciton binding energy of 60 meV at room temperature. Moreover, it has good characteristics namely, chemical sensitivity to different adsorbed gases, and amenability to doping, high chemical stability, non‐toxicity, low cost, easy fabrication of various nanostructures with a variety of methods.…”