Nucleation and Growth of ZnO on Different Surfaces and Study of their Functional Properties

Abstract

Nucleation and growth of crystalline materials on surfaces are often dictated by nature of the surface on which crystallization takes place. Study of the effect of trace impurities on their phase or morphology variations has been documented in plenty of literatures on synthetic materials chemistry. We chose ZnO as our material of interest as it is highly suitable for optoelectronic applications. Many of its properties, such as optical, catalytic and sensing are directly related to its shape and morphology. It is also notable that ZnO is biocompatible and exhibits high mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability. We studied the variability in the evolution of ZnO morphologies by choice of specific surfaces as growth time increased, and investigated the properties of sequentially grown ZnO using citrate as CHM. From this study we presented two domains of application of the ZnO- 1) as multifunctional material; 2) as hierarchical structures to develop superhydrophobic surfaces. In the first case, we demonstrated superior photocatalytic and superhydrophobic property, while in the second case we generated surfaces that show “Petal Effect”. We believe that many of these properties can generate niche applications in consumer relevant scenarios.