ZnO Rods with Exposed {100} Facets Grown via a Self-Catalyzed Vapor-Solid Mechanism and Their Photocatalytic and Gas Sensing Properties

Stella Vallejos; Naděžda Pizúrová; Isabel Gràcia; Carlos Sotelo-Vazquez; Jan Čechal; Chris Blackman; Ivan Parkin; Carles Cané

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b12992

ZnO Rods with Exposed {100} Facets Grown via a Self-Catalyzed Vapor-Solid Mechanism and Their Photocatalytic and Gas Sensing Properties

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Dec 7;8(48):33335-33342. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b12992. Epub 2016 Nov 28.

Authors

Stella Vallejos¹, Naděžda Pizúrová², Isabel Gràcia³, Carlos Sotelo-Vazquez⁴, Jan Čechal⁵, Chris Blackman⁴, Ivan Parkin⁴, Carles Cané³

Affiliations

¹ SIX Research Centre, Brno University of Technology , 10 Technická, 60190 Brno, Czech Republic.
² Institute of Physics of Material, Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic , 22 Zizkova, 61662 Brno, Czech Republic.
³ Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científica , Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra-Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University College London , 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H0AJ, U.K.
⁵ Institute of Physical Engineering, Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology , 2896/2 Technická, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic.

PMID: 27934171
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b12992

Abstract

We present a new method for vapor deposition of columnar ZnO structures in the form of rods on various substrates without the need for substrate modification with catalyst seed particles and at relatively low temperatures compared to other vapor deposition methods. These structures are used for the photodegradation of stearic acid (C₁₈H₃₆O₂) and the photoactivated detection of gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), ethanol (C₂H₆O), toluene (C₇H₈), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) at room temperature, showing improved selectivity compared to tests performed in themoactivated mode.

Keywords: AACVD; ZnO; gas sensing; photocatalysis; rods.