Comparison of ZnO nanowires grown on e-beam evaporated Ag and ZnO seed layers

Abstract

In this study, ZnO nanowires with diameters ranging from 50 nm to 500 nm have been synthesized hydrothermally on Ag and ZnO seed layers deposited by electron beam evaporation. ZnO nanowires grown on hetero and homo interfaces have been studied by comparing the growth characteristics of (a) ZnO nanowires on the Ag seed layer and (b) ZnO nanowires grown on the ZnO seed layer, respectively. The surface morphology of the as-evaporated seed layers before the nanowire growth has been investigated. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been employed to examine the crystallinity of ZnO nanowires. In addition, the integrity of the Ag–ZnO heterointerface has been investigated using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The length, diameter, density, and alignment of nanowires grown on Ag and ZnO seed layers have been studied as a function of growth time from 0.5 hours to 18 hours and precursor concentration from 5 mM to 18 mM. Furthermore, for both the Ag–ZnO nanowire heterostructure and ZnO–ZnO nanowire homostructure, the role of defects in the optical properties in the wavelength range of 517 nm to 900 nm has been studied using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy.