Title: Electrochemical fabrication of oriented ZnO nanorods on TiO₂ nanotubes

Authors: Marielle Eyraud; G. Jimenez-Cadena; C. Chassigneux; F. Vacandio; E. Comini; G. Sberveglieri; T. Djenizian

Addresses: Aix-Marseille Univ CNRS, Laboratoire Chimie Provence, Electrochemistry of Materials Research Group, Centre Saint Jerome 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France. ' INFM-CNR SENSOR, Lab and University of Brescia, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy. ' Aix-Marseille Univ CNRS, Laboratoire Chimie Provence, Electrochemistry of Materials Research Group, Centre Saint Jerome 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France. ' Aix-Marseille Univ CNRS, Laboratoire Chimie Provence, Electrochemistry of Materials Research Group, Centre Saint Jerome 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France. ' SENSOR, University of Brescia and CNR-IDASC, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy. ' SENSOR, University of Brescia and CNR-IDASC, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy. ' Aix-Marseille Univ CNRS, Laboratoire Chimie Provence, Electrochemistry of Materials Research Group, Centre Saint Jerome 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France

Abstract: We report the ability to use TiO₂ nanotube as a guide layer to achieve the vertical growth of ZnO nanorods, in additive-free bath. First, we focused on the anodisation conditions (cell voltage and anodisation time) to produce TiO₂ nanotube thin films grown from a 1.5 µm thick Ti layer sputtered onto Si. Highly organised titania nanotubes were obtained in glycerol viscous electrolyte. In a second step, the electrochemical growth of ZnO grains has been investigated from a zinc nitrate bath at 70°C on both Ti foil and TiO₂ nanotubes. ZnO deposition mechanism has been highlighted through the electrochemical experiments in conjunction with XRD technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examinations. On Ti foils, we show that addition of additives is required to obtain a highly oriented nanostructured ZnO deposit. On TiO₂ nanotubes, additives are not necessary to obtain such a deposit: Titania nanotubes can be used to guide the vertical growth of hybrid nanoarchitectured ZnO/TiO₂ electrode.

Keywords: zinc oxide; ZnO nanorods; titania nanotubes; TiO2; composite nanoarchitectured electrodes; electrochemical methods; nanotechnology; anodisation; thin films.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2012.045333

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2012 Vol.9 No.3/4/5/6/7, pp.295 - 311

Published online: 06 Feb 2012 *

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