Localised zinc oxide nanowires growth on printed circuit board by in-situ joule heating

Localised growth of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) on printed circuit board (PCB) using joule heating is firstly demonstrated. The joule heating is carried out by passing current through the conducting track on the PCB after the application of seed layer to decompose zinc acetate into zinc oxide nanocrystals, followed by hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO NWs. It is observed that NWs have grown abundantly on the centre region of the track where the hottest part is during heating process. Only traces of NWs can be found on other parts of the copper track away from centre region as well as on the insulating board. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.