Controllable fabrication of one-dimensional ZnO nanoarrays and their application in constructing silver trap structures

Abstract

Large-scale one-dimensional (1-D) ZnO nanoarrays (NAs) with controllable density and diameter have been successfully fabricated on silver plated aluminium through a simple, low-temperature, two-step strategy. Besides, the silver trap structures constructed based on the prepared 1-D ZnO NAs as the building blocks and their performance in the secondary electron yield suppression were discussed. X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometry morphologies of the NAs characterized by scanning electron microscopy clarified that, for the 1-D ZnO NAs as-obtained, the density increased and the vertical alignment improved with the concentration of reactants in the aqueous solution. The average diameter of the individual ZnO nanorod varied based both on the density of the NAs and the concentration of the reactants. Increasing the dip-coating times was an effective way to get higher density ZnO NAs with better vertical alignment under the same conditions. Meanwhile, uniform and dense 1-D ZnO NAs with good alignment have been successfully fabricated on PET cloth and stainless steel mesh utilizing this strategy. As for the silver trap structures, there were no obvious differences in the NAs' density before and after the silver trap construction. However, when it came to the individual nanorods, the hexagonal surface disappeared while cylindrical ones with roughened morphology were obtained. Secondary electron yield measurements showed that the silver trap structures exhibited a 30.8% reduction in the secondary electron yield relative to the bare silver plate aluminium, which provided a promising application for this strategy to fabricate desired 1-D ZnO NAs as the building blocks.