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Enhanced photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanowire arrays annealed in air

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Abstract

Highly ordered, single-crystal ZnO nanowire arrays (NWAs) were synthesized on transparent conducting oxide substrates by a facile seed layer assisted hydrothermal route. Annealing was applied onto these samples for enhancing the adhesion and eliminating the surface defects of ZnO NWAs. Further, the influence of annealing temperature (300–500 °C) was examined by a series of techniques, such as scanning electronic microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) set up. Although there weren’t obvious changes in both the phase structure and morphology, the PEC activities of the samples were enhanced a lot after sintering, which was similar with that of TiO2 nanorod arrays (NRAs) and was attributed to an enhancement in the crystal quality, adhesion and electric contact. It will facilitate the electron injection/transport both at the solid/ liquid interfaces and inside the NWA related electrodes.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2015XKZD01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Linmeng Wang, Xiuquan Gu, Yulong Zhao & Yinghuai Qiang

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  1. Linmeng Wang
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  2. Xiuquan Gu
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  3. Yulong Zhao
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  4. Yinghuai Qiang
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Correspondence to Xiuquan Gu.

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Wang, L., Gu, X., Zhao, Y. et al. Enhanced photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanowire arrays annealed in air. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 4058–4064 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-8349-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-8349-5

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