Selective Synthesis and Coating of ZnO Nanomaterials

Three different ZnO nanomaterials (nanobelts, nanorods, and nanowires) were synthesized at 138$0^{\circ}C$ from ball-milled ZnO powders by a thermal evaporation procedure with an argon carrier gas without any catalysts. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the ZnO nanobelts are single crystalline with the growth direction perpendicular to the (010) lattice plane, and that the ZnO nanorods and nanowires are single crystalline with the growth directions perpendicular to the (001) and (110) lattice Planes, respectively. In cathodoluminescence (CL), the energy Position of the near band-edge (NBE) peak is 3.280 eV for the 100-, 250-, and 500-nm thick nanobelts, 3.262 eV for the 100- and 250-nm thick nanorods, and 3.237 eV for the 500-nm thick nanorods. The synthesized ZnO nanorods were coated conformally with aluminum oxide (Al$_2$O$_3$) material by atomic layer deposition (ALD). $Al_2$O$_3$films were then deposited on these ZnO nanorods by ALD at a substrate temperature of 300 $^{\circ}C$ using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and distilled water ($H_2O$). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the deposited ZnO nanorods revealed that 40nm-thick $Al_2$O$_3$ cylindrical shells surround the ZnO nanorods.