Preparation of large-scale highly oriented ZnO noodle arrays and study on the photoconductivity

In order to obtain oriented nanostructured materials for nanoelectronic/microelectronic applications, a simple sol-gel method to form ZnO nano-structures under different heat treatment conditions was investigated. The results indicated that ZnO nanobelts could be obtained by the presence of small amount of triethanolamine, which acted as soft template. The orientation degree of the ZnO nanobelts was improved significantly by optimizing preparation condition. Via adjusting the pH of hydrothermal treatment, large-scale highly oriented ZnO belt arrays were obtained. The XRD result agreed well with that of the standard XRD results of ZnO. The photocurrent of the oriented ZnO belt array increased about 2 orders of magnitude after light exposure.