Fabrication Of Patterned ZnO Nanorod Arrays

The fabrication of patterned one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanostructure arrays is prerequisite to produceZnO based nanodevice. The growth of ZnO nanorod arrays with a controllable two-dimensional (2D)pattern is becoming much more important. Patterned well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays have been achievedby using various methods. Compared with the other methods, fabricating patterned one-dimensional ZnOnanostructure arrays by combined top-down and bottom-up technologies is competitive advantage.1D ZnOnanostructure arrays with special properties can be achieved by control the morphology, crystallinity,doping, spacing and arrangement of the ZnO nanostructures. There are several methods that can be used forgrowing patterned ZnO nanorod arrays just as nanosphere lithography, photolithography, nanoimprintlithography, and e-beam lithography, followed by different growth techniques, such as vapor-solid epitaxialgrowth, vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth, wet chemical methods and so on. Although many interesingresult have been achieved, but there are still many problems in this field, such as, how to fabricate largearea functional ZnO nanorod array film low-costly, how to control the morphology and the arrangement ofindividual nanostructures. In response to these issues, we carried out mainly research from the followingtwo aspects.1. Fabrication of multilevel ZnO nanostructure arrays with biomimetic pattern and then investigationson their superhydrophobic property. First, the structure of a fresh lotus leaf was replicated by PDMScasting method. The ZnO sol had been transformed to ZnO gel by the thermal curing nanoimprinttechnique. ZnO crystalline film with micron convex arrays was obtained after an annealing treatment.Secondary ZnO nanorods were fabricated by the low temperature hydrothermal method, the LotusLeaf-like ZnO film has multilevel structure with micron and nano arrays. PDS monolayer assembled on theZnO surface in the solution compounded by PDS and toluene. After that, the sample with multilevel ZnOnanostructure arrays apparence superhydrophobicity. The effects of secondary ZnO nanostructure on thesurface hydrophobic and adhesive properties were also discussed.2. Different density and morphology ZnO nanorod arrays were fabricated on Si substrate by electronbeam lithography (EBL) combined with the hydrothermal methods. The influence of the seed layers on the hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanorod arrays was investigated firstly. Through controlling the reaction timeand the precursor concentration in the hydrothermal reaction process, the density of ZnO nanorod arrayswere defined. EBL was used to fabricate different size of the seed areas for regulating the morphology ofthe ZnO nanorod arrays. The morphology and density of ZnO nanorod arrays could be precisely regulatedby combining the EBL and the hydrothermal methods, which were attractive for potential applications inZnO nanorod arrays-based nanodevices.