• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.541-548
• /
• 2015

We study the structural and functional characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures that are grown on carbon nanotube (CNT) constructs via step-wise chemical vapor deposition (CVD). First, we optimize the CVD process to directly grow ZnO nanostructures on CNTs by controlling the growth temperature below $600^{\circ}C$, where CNTs can be sustained in a ZnO-growing oxidative atmosphere. We then investigate how the morphology and areal density of ZnO nanostructures evolve depending on process parameters, such as pressure, temperature, and gas feeding composition, while focusing on the effect of underlying CNT topology on ZnO nucleation and growth. Because various types of ZnO nanostructures, including nanowires, nanorods, nanoplates, and polycrystalline nanocrystals, can be conformally formed on highly conductive CNT platforms, this electrically addressable three-dimensional hybrid nanoarchitecture may better meet a wide range of nanoelectronic application-specific needs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.27 no.12
• /
• pp.658-663
• /
• 2017

Urchin-structured zinc oxide(ZnO) nanorod(NR) gas sensors were successfully demonstrated on a polyimide(PI) substrate, using single wall carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs) as the electrode. The ZnO NRs were grown with ZnO shells arranged at regular intervals to form a network structure with maximized surface area. The high surface area and numerous junctions of the NR network structure was the key to excellent gas sensing performance. Moreover, the SWCNTs formed a junction barrier with the ZnO which further improved sensor characteristics. The fabricated urchin-structured ZnO NR gas sensors exhibited superior performance upon $NO_2$ exposure with a stable response of 110, fast rise and decay times of 38 and 24 sec, respectively. Comparative analyses revealed that the high performance of the sensors was due to a combination of high surface area, numerous active junction points, and the use of the SWCNTs electrode. Furthermore, the urchin-structured ZnO NR gas sensors showed sustainable mechanical stability. Although degradation of the devices progressed during repeated flexibility tests, the sensors were still operational even after 10000 cycles of a bending test with a radius of curvature of 5 mm.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.35.1-35.1
• /
• 2009

Vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) with different surface morphology were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrate. The films thus prepared were characterized by measuring X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. To study the effect of surface morphology on wettability, the contact angle (CA) of water was measured. It was demonstrated that the CA of the deposited ZnO NRs varied between $104^{\circ}$ and $135^{\circ}$ depending upon the surface morphology. Variable temperature photoluminescence (PL) have employed to probe the exciton recombination in high density and vertically aligned ZnO Nanorod arrays. The low-temperature PL characterizes the dominant near-band-edge excitonic emissions from such nanorod arrays.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.90.1-90.1
• /
• 2010

Due to the rapidly diminishing energy sources and higher energy production cost, the interest in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been increasing dramatically in recent years. A typical DSSC is constructed of wide band gap semiconductor electrode such as $TiO_2$ or ZnO that are anchored by light-harvesting sensitizer dyes and surrounded by a liquid electrolyte with a iodide ion/triiodide ion redox couple. DSSCs based on one-dimensional nano-structures, such as ZnO nanorods, have been recently attracting increasing attention due to their excellent electrical conductivity, high optical transmittance, diverse and abundant configurations, direct band gap, absence of toxicity, large exiton binding energy, etc. However, solar-to-electrical conversion performances of DSSCs composed of ZnO n-type photo electrode compared with that of $TiO_2$ are not satisfactory. An important reason for the low photovoltaic performance is the dissolution of $Zn^{2+}$ by the adsorption of acidic dye followed by the formation of agglomerates with dye molecules which could block the I-diffusion pathway into the dye molecule on the ZnO surface. In this paper, we prepared the DSSC with the ZnO electrode using the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method under low temperature condition (< $100^{\circ}C$). It was demonstrated that the ZnO seed layers played an important role on the formation of the ZnO nanostructures using CBD. To achieve truly low-temperature growth of the ZnO nanostructures on the substrates, a two-step method was developed and optimized in the present work. Firstly, ZnO seed layer was prepared on the FTO substrate through the spin-coating method. Secondly, the deposited ZnO seed substrate was immersed into an aqueous solution of 0.25M zinc nitrate hexahydrate and 0.25M hexamethylenetetramine at $90^{\circ}C$ for hydrothermal reaction several times.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.330-332
• /
• 2013

소 분위기에서 플라즈마 표면 처리의 경우 기판 표면에 존재하는 수소와 탄소 유기물들이 산소와 반응하여 $H_2O$와 $CO_2$ 등으로 제거되며 표면에 오존 결합을 유도하여 표면 에너지를 증가시키는 것으로 알려져 있다. ZnO 나노구조물을 성장시키는 방법으로는 MOCVD (Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposited), PLD (Pulsed Laser Deposition), VLS (Vapor-Liquid-Solid), Sputtering, 습식화학합성법(Wet Chemical Method) 방법 등이 있다. 그중에서도 습식화학합성법은 쉽게 구성요소를 제어할 수 있고, 저비용 공정과 낮은 온도에서 성장 가능하며 플렉서블 소자에도 적용이 가능하다. 그러므로 본 연구에서는 플라즈마 표면처리에 따라 표면에너지를 변화하여 습식화학합성법으로 성장시킨 ZnO nanorods의 밀도를 제어하고 photolithography 공정 없이 패터닝 가능성을 유 무를 판단하는 연구를 진행하였다. 기판은 Si wafer (100)를 사용하였으며 세척 후 표면에너지 증가를 위한 플라즈마 표면처리를 실시하였다. 분위기 가스는 Ar/$O_2$를 사용하였으며 입력전압 400 W에서 0, 5, 10, 15, 60초 동안 각각 실시하였다. ZnO nanorods의 seed layer를 도포하기 위하여 Zinc acetate dehydrate [Zn $(CH_3COO)_2{\cdot}2H_2O$, 0.03 M]를 ethanol 50 ml에 용해시킨 후 스핀코팅기를 이용하여 850 RPM, 15초로 5회 실시하였으며 $80^{\circ}C$에서 5분간 건조하였다. ZnO rods의 성장은 Zinc nitrate hexahydrate [$Zn(NO_3)_2{\cdot}6H_2O$, 0.025M], HMT [$C6H_{12}N_4$, 0.025M]를 deionized water 250 ml에 용해시켜 hotplate에 올리고 $300^{\circ}C$에서 녹인 후 $200^{\circ}C$에서 3시간 성장시켰다. ZnO nanorods의 성장 공정은(Fig. 1)과 같다. 먼저 플라즈마 처리한 시편의 표면에너지 측정을 위해 접촉각 측정 장치[KRUSS, DSA100]를 이용하였다. 그 결과 0, 5, 10, 15, 60 초로 플라즈마 표면 처리했던 시편이 각각 Fig. l, 2와 같이 $79^{\circ}$, $43^{\circ}$, $11^{\circ}$, $6^{\circ}$, $7.8^{\circ}$로 측정되었으며 이것을 각각 습식화학합성법으로 ZnO nanorods를 성장 시켰을 때 Fig. 3과 같이 밀도 차이를 확인할 수 있었다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 기판의 표면에너지를 제어하여 Fig. 4와 같이 나타나며 photolithography 공정없이 ZnO nanorods를 패터닝을 할 수 있었다. 본 연구에서는 플라즈마 표면 처리를 통하여 표면에너지의 변화를 제어함으로써 ZnO nanorods 성장의 밀도 차이를 나타냈었다. 이러한 저비용, 저온 공정으로 $O_2$, CO, $H_2$, $H_2O$와 같은 다양한 화학종에 반응하는 ZnO를 이용한 플렉시블 화학센서에 응용 및 사용될 수 있고, 플렉시블 디스플레이 및 3D 디스플레이 소자에 활용 가능하다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.111-114
• /
• 2011

As a growth-template of ZnO nanorods (NR), a hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ nanosheet (NS) was synthesized with the low temperature hydrothermal process and its microstructure was investigated using a high resolution scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Zinc nitrate hexahydrate was hydrolyzed by hexamethylenetetramine with the same mole ratio and various temperatures, growth times and total concentrations. The optimum hydrothermal processing condition for the best crystallinity of hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS was determined to be with 3.5 mM at $95^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The prepared $Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were two dimensionally arrayed on a substrate using an air-water interface tapping method, and the quality of the array was evaluated using an X-ray diffractometer. Because of the similarity of the lattice parameter of the (0001) plane between ZnO (wurzite a = 0.325 nm, c = 0.521 nm) and hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ (brucite a = 0.313 nm, c = 0.461 nm) on the synthesized hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS, ZnO NRs were successfully grown without seeds. At 35 mM of divalent Zn ion, the entire hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were covered with ZnO NRs, and this result implies the possibility that ZnO NR can be grown epitaxially on hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS by a soluble process. After the thermal annealing process, $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ changed into NiO, which has the property of a p-type semiconductor, and then ZnO and NiO formed a p-n junction for a large area light emitting diode.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2022

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials with nano-sized pores. The degree of gas adsorption and pore size can be controlled according to types of metal ions and organic ligands. Many studies have been conducted on MOFs in the fields of gas storage and separation, and gas sensors. For rapid and quantitative gas adsorption/desorption analyses, it is necessary to form various MOF structures in uniform films on a sensor surface. In this review, some of representative direct methods for uniformly synthesizing MOFs such as MIL-53 (Al), ZIF-8, and Cu-BDC from anodized aluminum oxide, zinc oxide nanorods, and copper thin films, respectively on the surface of a microresonator are highlighted. In addition, the operation principle of quartz crystal microbalance and microcantilever, which are representative microresonators, and the interpretation of signals that change when gas is adsorbed to MOFs are covered. This is intended to enhance the understanding of gas adsorption/desorption analysis of MOFs using microresonators.