The characteristic of the ZnO nanowire morphology grown by the hydrothermal method on various surface-treated seed layers

ZnO nanowires with various density and diameters were obtained by altering the wetting properties of aluminum doped ZnO (AZO) seed layers. AZO seed layers deposited on glass substrates were treated by inductor coupled plasmas (ICP) or atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) systems in order to control wettability before ZnO nanowire growth. Morphology of ZnO nanowires grown by the hydrothermal method was influenced by wettability of AZO seed layers. Our investigation shows that the diameter of ZnO nanowire increases and the length of ZnO nanowire decreases when the contact angle on the AZO seed layer is decreased. As a result, we confirmed that the morphology of ZnO nanowires could be easily controlled by surface treatment of seed layers with the plasma system. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.