Electrochemical synthesis of ZnO nanoflowers and nanosheets on porous Si as photoelectric materials

Well-aligned ZnO nanoflowers and nanosheets were synthesized on porous Si (PS) at different applied potentials by electrodeposition approach. The deposits were grown using the optimized program and were characterized by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV), amperometry I-t (I-t), open-circuit potentiometry. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis proved a strong preferential orientation (1 0 0) on PS. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) observation showed the deposits consist of nanoflowers with uniform grain size of about 100 nm in diameter and nanosheets, which may have potential applications in nanodevices and nanotechnologies. Thus, ZnO grown on PS can be used as photoelectric materials due to its larger photoelectric effect compared to Si wafer according to open-circuit potential (OCP) study. Optical band gap measurements were made on samples using UV-visible spectrophotometer thus giving a band gap of 3.35 eV.

Research highlights▶ ZnO nanostructures, consisting of nanoflowers and nanosheets, have been successfully synthesized on porous Si (PS) by electrodeposition method. ▶ Optical band gap measurements give a band gap of 3.35 eV for the as-prepared ZnO on PS. ▶ Open circuit potential shows that ZnO grown on PS is beneficial to photoelectric applications.