Influence of chemical routes on optical and field emission properties of Au-ZnO nanowire films

The Au-ZnO nanowire films have been synthesized in two steps by combining the chemical routes, i.e. electrochemical deposition (ECD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) techniques, and annealing process in air at 400 degrees C on zinc foil. The X-ray diffraction patterns exhibit formation of the ZnO wurtzite structure along with binary phases Au3Zn and AuZn3. The scanning electron microscope image show presence of ZnO nanowires possessing length of several micrometers and diameter less than 120 nm synthesized by ECD and in the range of 70-400 nm using CBD technique. The UV-visible results indicated different band gap absorption edge on the films. In addition, field emission experiments show different behavior for the films that were grown by different routes. Furthermore, the Au-ZnO prepared by ECD technique exhibited excellent emission current stability. These results suggest that the Au-ZnO nanowires could apply as high current sources. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.