Effect of seeding modification of substrate on the growth and UV detection properties of ZnO nanowires

Effect of seeding modification of a glass substrate on the growth of ZnO nanowires and their UV detection properties have been investigated. Seeding functionalization was carried out by two methods including several times dip-coating inside a zinc acetate solution and coating of ZnO on the substrate by sputtering. The functionalized substrates then were used for growth of ZnO nanowires by chemical bath deposition. Various characterizations of the nanowires indicate that the seeding of both methods leads to formation of long nanowires with hexagonal cross section. The photocurrent measurement under UV illumination indicates the superiority of the sputtering pre-seeding due to its better crystalline nanowires and higher quantum efficiency for UV detection.