Crystal Growth and Design of Disk/Filament ZnO-Decorated 1D TiO2 Composite Ceramics for Photoexcited Device Applications

Abstract

Disk- and filament-like ZnO crystals were decorated on one-dimensional TiO2 nanostructures (TiO2–ZnO) through various integrated physical and chemical synthesis methods. The morphology of the ZnO crystals on TiO2 varied with the chemical synthesis method used. ZnO nanodisks decorated with TiO2 nanorods (TiO2–ZnO–C) were synthesized using the chemical bath deposition method, and ZnO filament-like crystals decorated with TiO2 nanorods (TiO2–ZnO–H) were synthesized through the hydrothermal method. Compared with the pristine TiO2 nanorods, the as-synthesized TiO2–ZnO composites exhibited enhanced photophysiochemical performance. Furthermore, because of their fast electron transportation and abundant surface active sites, the ZnO nanodisks in the TiO2–ZnO–C composite exhibited a higher photoactivity than those in the TiO2–ZnO–H composite. The morphology and crystal quality of the ZnO decoration layer were manipulated using different synthesis methods to realize disk- or filament-like ZnO-decorated TiO2 composites with various photoactive performance levels.