Title: ZnO nanostructures on different silicon-based substrate via simple sol-gel immersion method

Authors: K.A. Eswar; F.S. Husairi; Mahmood Rusop; Saifollah Abdullah

Addresses: NANO-SciTech Centre (NST), Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor; Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia ' NANO-SciTech Centre (NST), Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor; Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia ' NANO-SciTech Centre (NST), Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor; NANO-Electric Centre (NET), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia ' NANO-SciTech Centre (NST), Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor; Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: In this work, ZnO nanostructures using zinc nitrate as starting material grown on different silicon-based substrate were studied. Porous silicon was prepared by electrochemical etching to modify the silicon surface. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) displays different distribution and nanostructures of ZnO on different substrate. The seeded substrates show the better site for the growth of ZnO nanostructure due to presence of nucleation site. Crystalline of ZnO nanostructure were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) grating. It is found that the hexagonal wurtzite of ZnO nanostructures were produced for all samples. The peaks (100), (002) and (101) are dominating for all samples prove that hexagonal structures of ZnO were formed. Photoluminescence spectra were employed in order to study the optical properties. The peak centred at 395-398 nm corresponds to free-exciton recombination ZnO nanostructures are found in silicon and porous silicon, respectively.

Keywords: zinc nitrate; hydrothermal immersion; zinc acetate; spin coating; seeded silicon; electrochemical etching; porous silicon; ZnO nanostructures; X-ray diffraction; XRD; photoluminescence; zinc oxide; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2013.059482

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2013 Vol.8 No.6, pp.478 - 487

Published online: 23 Feb 2014 *

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