Growth of ZnO on Flexible Substrate via Sol-Gel Hot Water Treatment

Abstract

Sol-gel precursor has been prepared by using zinc acetate (ZnAC) as starting material dissolved in isopropanol (IPA), diethanolamine (DEA) and distilled water (H2O) were added to produce a homogeneous and stable solution. The sol-gel precursor was deposited on ITO/PET substrate by spin-coat route. Oxidation process was held in deionized water at 90 °C for a specific time. The (100) and (101) ZnO planes were formed as the preferred orientation. RMS values of ZnO samples found to be 280 nm, 272 nm and 241 nm for 8 h, 12 h and 16 h, respectively by hot water treatment (HWT). ZnO nanorods-hourglass-like, nanosheet-leafs-like and nanorods-oval-like were obtained with different HWT time.