Title: Nanostructured zinc oxide growth on nickel and palladium seed layer using laser-assisted chemical bath deposition

Authors: Abdulwahab S.Z. Lahewil; Naser Mahmoud Ahmed; Nurul Zahirah Noor Azman

Addresses: School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia; The Institute of Science and Technology of Al-Orban, Al-Orban, Libya; The Ministry for Technical & Vocational Education, Tripoli, Libya ' School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia ' School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: Laser-assisted chemical bath deposition (LACBD) is a technique deemed interesting for synthesising semiconductor thin films. Henceforth, this study focused on various structures of thin films to improve the laser spot area for increased growth and performance. Accordingly, the effects of two different seed layers, namely Ni and Pd on the structure, composition, and morphological properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films via LACBD were presented. The process depicted the new design of a continuous flow process assisted by continuous wave laser irradiation at a laser wavelength of 460 nm (fundamental beam) at 40 mJ of laser energy at maximum, and different growth times (i.e., 20 and 25 min of laser wave). The subsequent X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique exhibited an excellent crystalline quality. More crystallinity was seen for the ZnO nanostructure film deposited on the Pd seed layer, with the largest peak corresponding to the (002) orientation. The crystallite size was 20.108 nm and 16.37 nm for the ZnO nanostructures on the Ni and Pd seed layers, respectively. The surface composition attributes, and chemical states of the Zn and O were then studied by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, revealing uniformly distributed and dense ZnO nanostructures, as well as improved morphologies. Thus, the results highlighted that different laser irradiation times, a variety of seed layers, and post-annealing processes were effective in improving the surface topography and the morphology and structural crystallinity properties of thin films.

Keywords: ZnO nanostructures; seed layers; Ni and Pd; laser wavelength; time; LACBD; laser-assisted chemical bath deposition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2022.124508

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2022 Vol.19 No.2/3/4/5, pp.281 - 292

Published online: 27 Jul 2022 *

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