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Comprehensive experimental study on production of vertically aligned ZnO nanorod thin films and their electrical, optical and antimicrobial properties

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Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterials (e.g. nanorods, nanowires) are the most important due to their electrical and optical properties. As the surface-to-volume ratio in ZnO nanorods (NRs) is very high, the surface states have a crucial role on optical and other properties. So, determination of the production parameters of the ZnO-NRs is important. In this study, a well-aligned ZnO-NRs thin film was produced via the sol–gel and hydrothermal methods. For this purpose, in the first step, a ZnO seed layer was coated onto a cleaned microscope glass slide (sizes of 1.25 × 3.75 cm) by the sol–gel spin coating method. In the second step, ZnO-NRs were grown on the ZnO seed layer by the hydrothermal method. Production parameters for the first step, such as type of the zinc salt; type of the solvent; solution concentration; type of the stabilizer; ageing time process of the solution; spin speed; duration of the spin process; number of repeated coating cycle; heating treatment temperature between coating cycles; duration between coating cycles; final heating treatment temperature and final heating treatment duration of the ZnO seed layer, were obtained. Then similar optimization processes were repeated for the second stage for the ZnO-NRs. The crystal structure, morphological and optical properties of all the produced samples were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy; scanning electron microscopy (SEM); and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. For comparison, ZnO-NR powders were produced via the mechanochemical solid-state combustion method. The electrical conductivity and optical transparency of the ZnO-NR thin film samples were higher than those of the ZnO-NR powder sample. It was also observed that the well-aligned ZnO-NR thin film sample had a higher bactericidal effect against Bacillus thuringiensis than the ZnO-NR powder sample.

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Acknowledgements

This research is financially supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Project Number 114Z572 and Çankırı Karatekin University (BAP; FF28015B12).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Çankırı Karatekin University, 18100, Çankırı, Turkey

    Hakan Çolak

  2. Kayseri Vocational College, Kayseri University, 38039, Kayseri, Turkey

    Ercan Karaköse

  3. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts, Sakarya University, 54187, Serdivan, Sakarya, Turkey

    Yavuz Deri̇n

  4. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Çankırı Karatekin University, 18100, Çankırı, Turkey

    Ramazan Dertli̇

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  1. Hakan Çolak
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  2. Ercan Karaköse
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Correspondence to Hakan Çolak.

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Çolak, H., Karaköse, E., Deri̇n, Y. et al. Comprehensive experimental study on production of vertically aligned ZnO nanorod thin films and their electrical, optical and antimicrobial properties. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 9753–9772 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03521-5

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