Growth and characterisation of electrodeposited ZnO thin films

Abstract The electrochemical method has been used to deposit zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films from aqueous zinc nitrate solution at 80 °C onto fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates. ZnO thin films were grown between − 0.900 and − 1.025 V vs Ag/AgCl as established by voltammogram. Characterisation of ZnO films was carried out for both as-deposited and annealed films in order to study the effect of annealing. Structural analysis of the ZnO films was performed using X-ray diffraction, which showed polycrystalline films of hexagonal phase with (002) preferential orientation. Atomic force microscopy was used to study the surface morphology. Optical studies identified the bandgap to be ∼ 3.20 eV and refractive index to 2.35. The photoelectrochemical cell signal indicated that the films had n-type electrical conductivity and current–voltage measurements showed the glass/FTO/ZnO/Au devices exhibit rectifying properties. The thickness of the ZnO films was found to be 0.40 μm as measured using the Talysurf instrument, after deposition for 3 min. Environmental scanning electron microscopy was used to view the cross-section of glass/FTO/ZnO layers.