Issue 10, 2021

Growth manner of rod-shaped ZnO crystals at low temperature without any seed/buffer layer on a polyimide film

Abstract

ZnO is widely used as a semiconductor material in a variety of applications. Usually, ZnO is used as a thin film, which is composed of ZnO/intermediate layers/substrates. Recently we developed a rod-shaped ZnO crystal layer directly on a polyimide film without any intermediate layers by solution reaction coupled with surface treatments of the film. We studied the growth mechanism of ZnO crystal layers on the polyimide surface in the solution process. The physical and chemical effects of alkali, plasma, and heating treatments were clarified. The results indicated formation of homogeneous, fine irregularities on the polyimide surface and predominance of imide groups. The direct growth of ZnO crystals is attributed to the anchoring effect derived from gradual nuclei growth of Zn(OH)2 in the homogeneous, fine irregularities of the polyimide film. We also demonstrated a more facile approach for the preparation of ZnO crystal layers by physical roughening of the polyimide film to verify our proposed mechanism. Our findings provide new insights into the growth of ZnO crystals on polyimide and other polymer substrate surfaces without the use of any intermediate layer. This knowledge may be further used for mass production of ZnO crystals/polyimide thin films at low cost.

Graphical abstract: Growth manner of rod-shaped ZnO crystals at low temperature without any seed/buffer layer on a polyimide film

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Nov 2020
Accepted
08 Feb 2021
First published
09 Feb 2021

CrystEngComm, 2021,23, 2039-2047

Author version available

Growth manner of rod-shaped ZnO crystals at low temperature without any seed/buffer layer on a polyimide film

K. Shishino, T. Yamada, K. Fujisawa, M. Ikeda, H. Hirata, M. Motoi, T. Hatakeyama and K. Teshima, CrystEngComm, 2021, 23, 2039 DOI: 10.1039/D0CE01729A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements