Fabrication of ZnO micro- and nano-structures by electrodeposition using nanoporous and lithography defined templates

We report in this work the fabrication of ZnO nanowires and nano-pillars by electrodeposition using three types of micro- and nano-structured templates. First, ZnO nanowires were synthesized in a nanoporous polycarbonate template and their morphology and monocrystalline structure were checked by conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. The optical properties of the monocrystalline ZnO nanowires were also studied by measuring the photo-fluorescence spectra of the sample. Then, the micro-structured template was made by optical lithography and the electrodeposited ZnO micro-rods were analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Finally, UV-nanoimprint templates were used for the fabrication of regular ZnO nano-pillar array. SEM images showed quite homogenous ZnO nano-pillar array on which the collective I-V characteristic has been carried out in order to determine the nature of the Au/ZnO contact. SEM images also revealed an effect of size increase of the ZnO micro-rods and nano-pillars with respect to that of the PMMA template. XRD patterns showed the hexagonal Wurtzite crystalline structure with cell parameters slightly larger than the literature ones. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.