DLC Thin Film Assisted ZnO Nanowires Growth

Abstract

In this study, we successfully fabricated dense, uniform, vertically aligned ZnO NWs on top of DLC films. The NWs' length, diameter and separation distance were controllable by fine tuning the growth parameters and changing the DLC film deposition temperature. HRTEM examination confirms the NWs were single crystalline with c-axis preferred orientation (lattice parameter c = 0.519 nm). From our experiment results, a ZnO polycrystalline layer forms first and then ZnO NWs grow on top of it. The NW has two sections. The bottom section has wider diameter of 100nm ~ 1 , and the upper thinner section were about 20 ~ 80 nm and it extends for in length. EDS maps by SEM and TEM showed the elemental concentration of the Zn, O and C in NWs. From all the investigations, we established a model of growth mechanism for ZnO NWs growth on DLC film.