Multiple regulation effects of ammonium acetate on ZnO growth process in chemical bath deposition

This study contributes to understand the roles of ammonium acetate on the growth mechanism of ZnO in Zn(NO 3 ) 2 -HMTA system. The growth process indicates that the nucleation experienced Zn 2+ -layered basic zinc salta(LBZs)-ZnO process, while the self-assembled unit changed from urchin-shaped, rod-shaped to a fully coupled twin-shaped structure with increasing ammonium acetate concentration. Ammonium acetate dominates the growth process by combing the ligand-ligand interaction of acetate ions binding to the same Zn-rich (0001) polar surface and ammonium ions regulating hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) hydrolysis. Relatively regular hexagonal wurtzite structure and a dissolve-renucleation-regrowth process which retains the twin-shaped template and renucleates at the same position are observed at ~10 mM ammonium acetate. Photoelectrochemistry (PEC) measurements show that the uniform hexagonal ZnO rods (Y-10, the sample named as Y-x (x represents x mM ammonium acetate, herein, x is 10 mM)) have a maximum photocurrent density of 1.54 mA cm -2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE), much higher than that of the dumbbell-shaped ZnO rods (Y-50, 0.20 mA cm -2 ) at the same voltage. These results provide a further explanation of morphology regulation mechanisms on ZnO synthesis processes and pave the road for more practical applications.PMID:34672035 | DOI:10.1002/chem.202103064

Source: Chemistry - October 21, 2021 Category: Chemistry Authors: Gen Liu Xue Yu Rui Xu Xiaodong Zhu Yanqing Ma Lei Ma Source Type: research