US EPA

1569141 

Journal Article 

Nucleation effect and growth mechanism of ZnO nanostructures by electrodeposition from aqueous zinc nitrate baths 

Sun, S; Jiao, S; Zhang, K; Wang, D; Gao, S; Li, H; Wang, J; Yu, Q; Guo, F; Zhao, L 

2012 

Yes 

Journal of Crystal Growth
ISSN: 0022-0248 

359 

15-19 

10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2012.08.016 

WOS:000310415500003 

We presented a systematic study of the nucleation effect and
growth mechanism of ZnO nanostructures from electrolyte mixed with different concentration of Zn
(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O and KCl by cathodic electrochemical deposition. Scanning electron
microscopy images reveal that the concentration of Zn(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O is important to
control the dimension and nucleation rate, which 1D ZnO nanostructures with smaller diameters and
rougher facets are formed at lower Zn(NO3)(2) precursor concentration(1 mM) and dense and well-
defined nanorods are achieved above 5 mM. We also found other major effects of KCl besides as a
supporting electrolyte. A high [Cl-] not only makes the transition of morphology from 1D to 2D,
but also has important influence on the nucleation in the initial stage in electrodeposition.
Very sparse ZnO nanoclusters composed of two dimensional nanosheets evolve from dense ZnO
nanotowers when the KCl supporting electrolyte concentration is added to 2 M. Thus, altering the
content of Zn(NO3)(2) precursor and KCl is a effective method to obtain ZnO nanostructures with
different morphology for more applications. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 

Nanostructures; Nucleation; Electrochemical growth; Oxides; Semiconducting II-VI materials