Issue 17, 2012

Patterned growth of vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods on a flexible platform for feasible transparent and conformable electronics applications

Abstract

Despite the attractiveness of low temperature hydrothermal processes, the synthesis of vertical ZnO nanostructures has mostly been limited to rigid substrates. Moreover, patterned growth of nanostructures is also commonly carried out on rigid substrates, since conventional optical lithography is not easily applied to polymeric substrates, as focusing and reaction of the substrate with the organic solvent used in the lithography process prove to be a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the limited work on laser writing lithography patterned growth instead of the commonly used soft lithography patterned growth of nanorods on the transparent flexible substrate polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a practical device demonstration. The visibly-transparent nanorods on the PET platform constitute a superior structural integrity with ohmic electro-conductivity even in a highly bent state. Accordingly, this can pave the way towards integration of vertically-aligned 1D nanostructures on a flexible platform for a transparent, conformable, shock-proof and lightweight product.

Graphical abstract: Patterned growth of vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods on a flexible platform for feasible transparent and conformable electronics applications

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Jan 2012
Accepted
01 Mar 2012
First published
21 Mar 2012

J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 8518-8524

Patterned growth of vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods on a flexible platform for feasible transparent and conformable electronics applications

W. L. Ong, Q. X. Low, W. Huang, J. A. van Kan and G. W. Ho, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 8518 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM00027J

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