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Investigations of some physical properties of ALD growth ZnO films: effect of crystal orientation on photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

ZnO films have great application potentials from optoelectronic devices to photocatalysis. Detailed film properties and relations between photocatalytic activities of annealed ZnO films grown on glass and corning glass substrates by Atomic Layer Deposition Technique (ALD) were reported in the current study. The structural evolutions were investigated by X-ray diffraction. Results showed that crystal orientations are strongly dependent on substrate materials. The optical band gap values of all films change between 3.26 and 3.24 eV with annealing. Lower electrical resistivity values were obtained for as-grown films. The morphological properties of the films were investigated by atomic force microscopy. In addition, the highest value of photoactivity was determined for ZnO films grown on corning glass substrate and annealed at 600 °C with a value of 53%. Relations between crystal orientations and photocatalytic activities showed that the crystal orientations, crystallite sizes, peak intensities, and dislocation density values are highly effective on photoactivities of ZnO films.

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted in the Laboratory supported by Gazi University Scientific Research Project Unit (BAP) under the Project Number of 07/2015-08 and 07/2019-05. Authors also would like to thanks The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey for 2219 support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Gazi University, 06500, Ankara, Turkey

    Meryem Polat Gonullu, Halil Ibrahim Efkere & Hakan Ates

  2. Program of Medical Imaging Technologies, Health Services Vocational High School, Okan University, 34959, Istanbul, Turkey

    Muge Soyleyici Cergel

  3. Photonics Research and Application Center, Gazi University, 06500, Ankara, Turkey

    Halil Ibrahim Efkere

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Polat Gonullu, M., Soyleyici Cergel, M., Efkere, H.I. et al. Investigations of some physical properties of ALD growth ZnO films: effect of crystal orientation on photocatalytic activity. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 12059–12074 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-05835-4

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