Affiliations 

  • 1 Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur 54100, Malaysia. abd_manaf@ic.utm.my
Nanoscale Res Lett, 2014 Feb 26;9(1):95.
PMID: 24568668 DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-9-95

Abstract

We report the seed/catalyst-free vertical growth of high-density electrodeposited ZnO nanostructures on a single-layer graphene. The absence of hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and heat has resulted in the formation of nanoflake-like ZnO structure. The results show that HMTA and heat are needed to promote the formation of hexagonal ZnO nanostructures. The applied current density plays important role in inducing the growth of ZnO on graphene as well as in controlling the shape, size, and density of ZnO nanostructures. High density of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods comparable to other methods was obtained. The quality of the ZnO nanostructures also depended strongly on the applied current density. The growth mechanism was proposed. According to the growth timing chart, the growth seems to involve two stages which are the formation of ZnO nucleation and the enhancement of the vertical growth of nanorods. ZnO/graphene hybrid structure provides several potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics such as photovoltaic devices, sensing devices, optical devices, and photodetectors.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.