Electrodeposition of ZnO nanotube arrays on TCO glass substrates

In this paper, large-scale, single-crystalline ZnO nanotube arrays were directly fabricated onto F-doped SnO2 (TCO) glass substrate via an electrochemical deposition method from an aqueous solution for the first time. The tubes had a preferential orientation along the [0 0 0 1] direction and hexagon-shaped cross sections. The novel nanostructure could be easily fabricated without a prepared layer of seeds on the substrate. The surface condition of substrate material and the experimental conditions played a key role in the nanotube formation. A possible formation mechanism has been proposed.