Control parameters on the fabrication of ZnO hollow nanocolumns

The present work reports on the fabrication of hollow ZnO nanocolumns by a sequential combination of electrochemical deposition, chemical attack and regeneration. Initially, ZnO nanocolumns were deposited in two different substrates, namely Fluor Tin Oxide and Indium Tin Oxide. In a further step, a statistical analysis on the most influencing control parameters in the dissolution stage to produce the hollow ZnO nanowires on the FTO substrates was carried out. The control variables considered were electrolyte concentration, dissolution time and temperature, whereas the output variable was the percentage of the hollow nanocolumns obtained. The statistical analysis consisted of a two-level factorial design of experiments on three variables, therefore involving a series of 8 experiments. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the results was also carried out. The results showed that all the control variables were significant, the most important being the dissolution time.