Studies on Effect of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanostructures Morphology by Modification of Sol-Gel Solution

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) known as wide band gap semiconductor with large excitation energy 60 meV, noncentral symmetry, piezoelectric and biocompatible for biomedical application are the unique characteristic that attract many researcher’s attention on ZnO nanostructure synthesis and physical properties. ZnO thin films were deposited on Si Glass substrate by a sol-gel process. The starting solution were prepare by dissolved zinc acetate dehydrate (ZnAc) and diethanolamine (DEA) in water (H2O) and 2-propanol (2-PrOH). 0 to 60 drops of NaOH were dropped into 100 ml sol-gel solution to study effect of sol-gel modification. ZnO thin films were obtained after preheating the spin coated thin films at 100 °C for 10 minutes after each coating. The coated substrates were undergone for Hot Water Treatment (HWT) process at 90 °C for 6 hours to grow ZnO nanostructures. The effects of sol-gel modification by drop of NaOH into the solution were studied. ZnO nanorods and nanoflakes were obtained after hot water treated at 90 °C for 6 hours with different amount of NaOH dropped directly in the sol-gel solution. On the basis of the changes in morphology and microstructure induced by hot water treatment, it is concluded that the amount of NaOH dropped into sol-gel effected morphology of ZnO growth.