Ar⁺ implantation-induced tailoring of RF-sputtered ZnO films: structural, morphological, and optical properties

• Manu Bura,
• Divya Gupta,
• Arun Kumar and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 872–886, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.66

• . Raman spectra reveal the presence of the E2 (low), E2 (high), and A1 (LO) Raman modes in pristine and implanted ZnO films. A gradual fall and rise in peak intensity of, respectively, the E2 (high) and A1 (LO) Raman modes is observed with increases in ion fluence. However, the E2 (low) mode broadens and

• merges completely with disorder-induced broad band at higher fluences. Moreover, the deconvolution of the A1 (LO) Raman peak affirms the presence of defect-related Raman modes in the implanted samples. A gradual reduction in crystallinity of the implanted ZnO films with increasing ion fluence is observed

• , Urbach energy, and optical bandgap. The low reflectance values of implanted films assure their suitability as transparent windows and anti-reflective coating in various optoelectronic devices. Keywords: AFM; diffuse reflectance; GXRD; polycrystalline; ZnO films; Introduction Zinc oxide has emerged as a

Mn-doped ZnO nanopowders prepared by sol–gel and microwave-assisted sol–gel methods and their photocatalytic properties

• Cristina Maria Vlăduț,
• Crina Anastasescu,
• Silviu Preda,
• Oana Catalina Mocioiu,
• Simona Petrescu,
• Jeanina Pandele-Cusu,
• Dana Culita,
• Veronica Bratan,
• Ioan Balint and
• Maria Zaharescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1283–1296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.104

• previous studies, the authors demonstrated that Mn-doped ZnO films exhibit superior optical and piezoelectric properties compared to undoped ZnO, with a more compact microstructure and reduced surface roughness [41]. Building on this foundation, the current article aims to focus on the methods of

Zinc oxide nanostructures for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement: a review

• Ioana Marica,
• Fran Nekvapil,
• Maria Ștefan,
• Cosmin Farcău and
• Alexandra Falamaș

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 472–490, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.40

• , enhanced Raman scattering for periodic ZnO-elevated Au dimer nanostructures [12] and enhanced fluorescence emission signals from Al-doped ZnO films [13] were obtained. The development of hybrid nanocomposites based on ZnO and noble metals for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement has recently attracted

• Au NPs. Photoluminescence spectra of ZnO films were studied after doping them with 29% Au annealed at 300 °C in air. After Au incorporation, a strong increase of both UV and visible ZnO emission bands was obtained [94]. Another study [95] obtained 1.5-fold to 2.8-fold enhancements for Au-decorated

• the larger surface area of the ZnO nanostructures. It was determined that using nanoscaled ZnO films did not cause any significant modification in the decay rates on the radiative pathways of fluorophores as compared to those on glass (Figure 8d–f), indicating that the mechanism of enhanced

9.1% efficient zinc oxide/silicon solar cells on a 50 μm thick Si absorber

• Rafal Pietruszka,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Monika Ozga,
• Katarzyna Gwozdz,
• Ewa Placzek-Popko and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 766–774, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.60

• ZnO films via ALD at higher growth temperatures or with a lattice-matched substrate [19]. The average thickness of the deposited films was calculated from the cross sections shown in Figure 3. It was hard to see the difference between MZO and ZnONR for sample A. Therefore, the average height was

• photons were absorbed close to the surface of the solar cells. Due to the high concentration of free n-type carriers, the generated electron–hole pairs (e–h) recombine very quickly (efficient Auger effect). The EQE measurement confirmed that the ZnO films work as a transparent emitter (n-type partner for

Structural and optical characteristics determined by the sputtering deposition conditions of oxide thin films

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Florin Garoi and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 354–365, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.29

• dielectric properties (e.g., SiO2 and ZnO) exhibit a dependence of the electrical resistance with temperature [22][23]. SiO2 and ZnO films are obtained by various deposition techniques, such as matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) [24][25], spin coating of sol–gel precursor solutions [26], radio

• -frequency magnetron sputtering (rfMS) [27][28][29][30], vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE) [31][32][33], chemical methods [34], reactive ion beam sputter deposition [35], among others. For example, SiO2 and ZnO films obtained by rfMS can be either used as dielectric materials in metasurface structures or as

• magnification of 20000×, the SEM analyses show small structural changes in the quality of the SiO2 and ZnO films, which are proportional to their increase in thickness. SEM cross-section images (Figure 6) show films with a dense, homogeneous, and uniform surface. The structural analysis of the surface of SiO2

Electronic and magnetic properties of doped black phosphorene with concentration dependence

• Ke Wang,
• Hai Wang,
• Min Zhang,
• Yan Liu and
• Wei Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 993–1001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.100

• experimentally demonstrated that substitutional doping of TMDs could be achieved by filling the vacancies observed in CVD-grown monolayer TMDs [18]. Liu et al. [19] prepared epitaxial copper-doped ZnO films and observed that the substitution of Cu for Zn and the presence of strong Cu–Zn–O bonds are necessary for

• the ferromagnetism of the ZnO films. Likewise, substitutional doping can also be used for manipulating the electronic and magnetic properties of phosphorene [20][21][22][23]. Zheng et al. [24] focused on the properties of phosphorene doped with non-metal atoms in a 6 × 6 × 1 supercell, corresponding

Room-temperature single-photon emitters in titanium dioxide optical defects

• Kelvin Chung,
• Yu H. Leung,
• Chap H. To,
• Aleksandra B. Djurišić and
• Snjezana Tomljenovic-Hanic

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1085–1094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.100

• single-photon emitting defects represent 5% of the total number of fluorescing features investigated. A previous work by Morfa et al. [7] on single-photon emitting defects in ZnO films showed that the annealing temperature plays an important role in the creation of defects. In our work, the films that

Surface-plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet emission of Au-decorated ZnO structures for gas sensing and photocatalytic devices

• T. Anh Thu Do,
• Truong Giang Ho,
• Thu Hoai Bui,
• Quang Ngan Pham,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thi Thu Do,
• Duc Van Nguyen and
• Dai Lam Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 771–779, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.70

• material for the design of efficient catalytic devices. The NO2 sensing ability of as-deposited ZnO films was investigated with different gas concentrations at an optimized sensing temperature of 120 °C. Surface decoration of plasmonic Au nanoparticles provided an enhanced sensitivity (141 times) with

• spectra of ZnO and Au NP/ZnO films. A typical absorption peak in the UV region around 365 nm is observed on the pure ZnO as well as on the Au NP/ZnO sample, which originates from the band edge absorption of ZnO. However, the Au NP/ZnO sample exhibits an extra peak centered at 517 nm, corresponding to the

• photocatalytic decomposition. Conclusion ZnO and hybrid Au NP/ZnO films on glass substrates were synthesized using a simple chemical bath deposition and photoreduction process. The surface plasmonic resonance of the Au NPs on sub-micrometer ZnO spheres was verified by UV–vis absorption, photoluminescence and

Growth and characterization of textured well-faceted ZnO on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and textured Si(100) substrates for solar cell applications

• Chin-Yi Tsai,
• Jyong-Di Lai,
• Shih-Wei Feng,
• Chien-Jung Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen,
• Fann-Wei Yang,
• Hsiang-Chen Wang and
• Li-Wei Tu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.194

• , and CL as well. The reflectance spectra of these three samples show that the antireflection function provided by theses samples mostly results from the nanometer-scaled texture of the ZnO films, while the micrometer-scaled texture of the Si substrate has a limited contribution. The results of this

• indirectly verified from the results of the CL measurements of the three samples at room temperature (RT), as shown in Figure 7. The ZnO films are grown to be roughly the same thickness of 1.7 μm for the three different substrates. As a result, the measured CL intensity should be proportional to the degree

• reflectance due to the additional texture provided by the micrometer-sized pyramid structure of the texture Si(100) substrate. Therefore, it could be concluded that the antireflection function provided by theses samples mostly results from the nanometer-sized texture of the ZnO films while the micrometer

Atomic structure of Mg-based metallic glass investigated with neutron diffraction, reverse Monte Carlo modeling and electron microscopy

• Rafał Babilas,
• Dariusz Łukowiec and
• Laszlo Temleitner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1174–1182, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.119

• pure and doped ZnO films with thickness from 50 to 200 nm, which contained equiaxial grains of about 20 nm length. Moreover, the ZnO films exhibited ferromagnetic behavior. The structure of the ribbons in the as-cast state was preliminary checked by conventional X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the

Study of the surface properties of ZnO nanocolumns used for thin-film solar cells

• Neda Neykova,
• Jiri Stuchlik,
• Karel Hruska,
• Ales Poruba,
• Zdenek Remes and
• Ognen Pop-Georgievski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 446–451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.48

• 150 nm. It should be noted, that after the hydrogen or oxygen surface plasma treatments the morphology of the nanocolumns does not change (see Figure S1 and Figure S2, Supporting Information File 1 for details). The chemical bonding structure of the ZnO films prepared by hydrothermal growth from a

Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• of tobacco mosaic viruses) on the mineralization processes of ZnO films has been investigated and an extraordinary high degree of orientation was observed. In this study, we elucidate the influence of the negative charge density of two non-piezoelectric templates on the deposition of ZnO films from

• promote the deposition of thin ZnO films (Figure 2). The early stage of the deposition after 3 deposition cycles was investigated by AFM measurements (Figure 2a and Figure 2d). The film on the COOH-SAM (Figure 2a) is formed by aggregates with around 50 nm in diameter. The substrate is not completely

• covered as can be seen from the holes in the ZnO film. Even after five deposition cycles (Figure 2b), these holes are still present. However, after 20 deposition cycles, the ZnO films get more homogeneous and the substrate is covered completely (Figure 2c). Investigation of the deposition of ZnO films on

Performance of colloidal CdS sensitized solar cells with ZnO nanorods/nanoparticles

• Anurag Roy,
• Partha Pratim Das,
• Mukta Tathavadekar,
• Sumita Das and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 210–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.23

• AM 1.5). A standard silicon solar cell (serial number 189/PVM351) from Newport, U.S. was used as a reference cell. The active area of the fabricated cells used for photovoltaic measurement was 0.25 cm2. Further, the I–V characteristics under normal light on CdS-sensitized ZnO films were measured

• −38.8 mV (as shown in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2) illustrates the excellent stability of the dispersion as required for the sensitization resulting in a colloidal solution [40]. Structural and optical study of CdS films In order to characterize the CdS NPs sensitized on different ZnO films

• evident from the SEM images that the formation of ZnO nanorods in the as-prepared stage have an average length of ≈4 μm and a range of diameters between 50–200 nm. The microstructural images in Figure 5a,c manifest the successful deposition of CdS NPs over the ZnO films. The cross-sectional FESEM images

Ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO: the role of grain boundaries

• Boris B. Straumal,
• Svetlana G. Protasova,
• Andrei A. Mazilkin,
• Eberhard Goering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Petr B. Straumal and
• Brigitte Baretzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1936–1947, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.185

• influence the magnetic behaviour of such a material. Especially attractive is that zinc oxide is cheap. It is widely used for various applications from sunblock creams to varistors for power electronics [3][4]. The various technologies of deposition of pure and doped ZnO films, sintering of ZnO ceramics and

• growth of single crystals, are well known and well elaborated. It seemed that nothing could prevent the success of the synthesis of ferromagnetic ZnO doped by iron, manganese, cobalt, or other “magnetic” atoms. Indeed first successes came soon. Ferromagnetic ZnO films were synthesised by pulsed laser

• ferromagnetic behaviour of zinc oxide and developed our own method for the synthesis of pure and doped nanocrystalline ZnO films. The obtained data are summarized in Figure 1 for pure ZnO and ZnO doped with manganese, cobalt, iron and nickel [6][7][8][9]. The full list of used references can be found in [6][7

A composite structure based on reduced graphene oxide and metal oxide nanomaterials for chemical sensors

• Vardan Galstyan,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Iskandar Kholmanov,
• Andrea Ponzoni,
• Veronica Sberveglieri,
• Nicola Poli,
• Guido Faglia and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1421–1427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.133

• the synthesis of ZnO films, nanowires and ZnO-based hybrids for applications in opto-electronics as well as in gas sensors [7][12][13][14][15]. ZnO has several advantages regarding the application in sensor structures. However, there are many obstacles (high resistivity and operating temperature

Chemical bath deposition of textured and compact zinc oxide thin films on vinyl-terminated polystyrene brushes

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Caroline G. Hofmeister,
• Peter Lindemann,
• Cheng Huang,
• Johannes Baier,
• Andreas Leineweber,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Christof Wöll,
• Thomas Schimmel and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 102–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.12

• stronger interaction between the then polar template and polar ZnO crystallites in solution. This may lead to oriented attachment of the crystallites so that the observed (002) texture arises. Characterization of the templates and the resulting ZnO films were performed with ζ-potential and contact angle

• result. XRD investigation ZnO films were deposited within methanolic solution under moderate condition (60 °C) on SiOx and as-prepared PS brush. The obtained ZnO thin films were characterized by XRD measurements of the 20 mineralization cycles sample (Figure 4). As expected, the characteristic (100

• ]. Excess molecules were removed by a 3-step counterflow rinsing (cascaded rinsing) of the samples in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The samples were dried by a stream of nitrogen after each rinsing process. Preparation of the deposition solution and mineralization Deposition experiments of ZnO films were carried

Dependence of lattice strain relaxation, absorbance, and sheet resistance on thickness in textured ZnO@B transparent conductive oxide for thin-film solar cell applications

• Kuang-Yang Kou,
• Yu-En Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen and
• Shih-Wei Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 75–80, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.9

• , optical, and electrical characteristics of LPCVD-grown ZnO are sensitive to the growth temperature, pressure, and flow rate, TCO can be tuned according to the application. ZnO films grown on a sapphire substrate undergo residual strain induced by the lattice mismatch and the difference in thermal

• expansion coefficient [10]. Because strain can affect the electronic and optical properties of materials, the strain distribution in the films is an important subject to be investigated. The strain in ZnO films is accumulated during film growth and can be monitored by in situ optical reflectance measurement

• , εxx, and in the y-direction, εyy, of ZnO films can be determined by the frequency shift, Δω = ω−ω0 [21], as: where a = −774 cm−1 and b = −375 cm−1 are the deformation potential constants of the A1(TO) mode [22]. The elastic stiffness constants, C33 and C13, are 216 and 104 GPa, respectively [1]. The

Blue and white light emission from zinc oxide nanoforests

• Nafisa Noor,
• Luca Lucera,
• Thomas Capuano,
• Venkata Manthina,
• Alexander G. Agrios,
• Helena Silva and
• Ali Gokirmak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2463–2469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.255

• gap semiconductor (≈3.4 eV) with large exciton binding energy (60 meV). ZnO nanowires have been shown to yield stimulated emission with optical pumping (e.g., nanowire laser) [4] and have been demonstrated as photodetectors [5]. ZnO films have also been used in transparent thin film transistors [6

Influence of wide band gap oxide substrates on the photoelectrochemical properties and structural disorder of CdS nanoparticles grown by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Alexander V. Mazanik,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Еugene А. Streltsov and
• Anatoly I. Kulak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2252–2262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.231

• the Raman line broadening increases with the anharmonicity of atomic oscillations. The anharmonicity contribution is more substantial in the deformed lattice. This results in the experimentally observed large spectral width of the CdS LO band for CdS/ZnO films at N < 100 and its decrease with a growth

Morphology control of zinc oxide films via polysaccharide-mediated, low temperature, chemical bath deposition

• Florian Waltz,
• Hans-Christoph Schwarz,
• Andreas M. Schneider,
• Stefanie Eiden and
• Peter Behrens

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.83

• present a three-step process for the low-temperature chemical bath deposition of crystalline ZnO films on glass substrates. The process consists of a seeding step followed by two chemical bath deposition steps. In the second step (the first of the two bath deposition steps), a natural polysaccharide

• this step, the film is covered by a dense layer of ZnO. This optimized procedure leads to ZnO films with a very high electrical conductivity, opening up interesting possibilities for applications of such films. The films were characterized by means of electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and

• transparency [3], catalytic activity [4][5], and chemical sensing [6][7][8]. It is also one of the most promising candidates for the replacement of indium tin oxide (ITO) in transparent conductive oxide (TCO) applications [9][10]. Hence, ZnO films are a key research area in industry as well as in academia with

Microwave assisted synthesis and characterisation of a zinc oxide/tobacco mosaic virus hybrid material. An active hybrid semiconductor in a field-effect transistor device

• Shawn Sanctis,
• Rudolf C. Hoffmann,
• Sabine Eiben and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 785–791, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.81

• diffractometry (GI-XRD) analysis was employed to gain a deeper insight into the crystallinity of the as deposited ZnO thin film. The ZnO films display a polycrystalline nature of the ZnO being essential for the formation of an active semiconducting layer. Reflection peaks corresponding to the (100), (002) and

• performance ZnO layers with increasing number of deposition cycles were analyzed. The increasing thickness of the ZnO films after various cycles was measured using optical profilometry (Figure 4). The thickness and uniformity of the deposited semiconductor layer bear a crucial importance for FET device

• parameters for the FET performance. Based on these performance parameters, the electrical characteristics of the devices display a stark contrast due to the difference in the number of ZnO deposition cycles which led to the formation of thicker layers. FET characteristics of the ZnO films with increased

Effects of palladium on the optical and hydrogen sensing characteristics of Pd-doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Anh-Thu Thi Do,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thu Thi Do,
• Ngan Quang Pham and
• Giang Truong Ho

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1261–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.140

• controls the gas sensing characteristics, have been reported in ZnO films [23]. The sensitivity and selectivity characteristics of the gas sensor are associated with the deep hole-trap states and vacancies on the ZnO surface by the electron transfer mechanism [23][24]. The Pd metal nanoparticles modify the

Organic and inorganic–organic thin film structures by molecular layer deposition: A review

• Pia Sundberg and
• Maarit Karppinen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1104–1136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.123

Evolution of microstructure and related optical properties of ZnO grown by atomic layer deposition

• Adib Abou Chaaya,
• Roman Viter,
• Mikhael Bechelany,
• Zanda Alute,
• Donats Erts,
• Anastasiya Zalesskaya,
• Kristaps Kovalevskis,
• Vincent Rouessac,
• Valentyn Smyntyna and
• Philippe Miele

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 690–698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.78

• , 19, Raina Blvd., LV 1586, Riga, Latvia 10.3762/bjnano.4.78 Abstract A study of transmittance and photoluminescence spectra on the growth of oxygen-rich ultra-thin ZnO films prepared by atomic layer deposition is reported. The structural transition from an amorphous to a polycrystalline state is

• ultrathin ZnO films in optical sensors and biosensors. Keywords: atomic layer deposition; optical properties; photoluminescence; thin films; ZnO; Introduction Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an n-type semiconductor and a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) with excellent optoelectronic properties, a wide band gap

• temperature caused by quantum confinement [11] and, an improvement of the photovoltaic and sensor performance due to a high surface area [12][13]. ZnO nanostructures are obtained as nanoparticles [14], nanotubes [15], nanowires [5][7], and ultrathin films [16][17]. Ultrathin ZnO films can be synthesized by

Ferromagnetic behaviour of Fe-doped ZnO nanograined films

• Boris B. Straumal,
• Svetlana G. Protasova,
• Andrei A. Mazilkin,
• Thomas Tietze,
• Eberhard Goering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Petr B. Straumal and
• Brigitte Baretzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 361–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.42

• the Mn and Co concentration showed complicated nonmonotonic behaviour [17][18]. The concentration dependence for Co-doped ZnO films has one maximum [18], and the concentration dependence for Mn-doped ZnO films has two maxima [17]. The shape of the dependence of the saturation magnetization on the Mn

• origin of RT ferromagnetism. We can also suppose another reason for the fact that the concentration dependence of the saturation magnetization for Co-doped ZnO films has one maximum [18], and the concentration dependence for Mn-doped ZnO films has two maxima [17]. It is probably due to the fact that

• fact prompts us to check, whether the concentration dependence of the saturation magnetization for Fe-doped ZnO films has one or two maxima. Therefore, the goals of this work are to determine the threshold value sth of the specific GB area for Fe-doped zinc oxide and to analyse experimentally the