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Linköping Studies in Science and Technology Dissertation No. 1412
Fabrication and characterization of ZnO nanostructures for sensing and photonic device applications
Syed Muhammad Usman Ali
Physical Electronics and Nanotechnology Division
Department of Science and Technology (ITN) Campus Norrköping, Linköping University
SE-60174 Norrköping Sweden
Linköping 2011
ii
Copyright © 2011 by Syed Muhammad Usman Ali
E mail; [email protected]
ISBN: 978-91-7393-015-4
ISSN 0345-7524
Printed by LiU-Tryck, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
November, 2011
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Motivation from ALLAH:
Surah Al-'Ankabut [29:20]
ALLAH (GOD) Say: “Travel through the earth and see how ALLAH did originate creation; so will ALLAH produce a later creation: for ALLAH has power over all things”.
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Dedication:
When I was a kid, my father (deceased) always encouraged and motivated me for the higher
education (especially for PhD studies) and I promised him that inshah ALLAH I will try my
best to fulfil your desire. Today by the grace of almighty ALLAH, I have fulfilled his desire
but I have tears in my eyes that unfortunately, he is not alive to see and hug me that I have full
filled his desire as I promised (May ALLAH grant an eternal peace to his soul in heaven,
Ameen). I dedicated this thesis to my father, mother, all brothers and sisters and in laws, my
beloved wife Soofia Usman, her sacrifices & supports are countless for achieving this goal
and at the end my lovely and beloved children, Syeda Hiba Fatima, Syeda Aiman Fatima,
Syeda Kinza Fatima and my little lovely son Syed Hussam Muhammad Ali for all your
sacrifices, patience and support to me.
Finally I am quoting a short quotation, which my father wrote on my note book when I got
the admission in electronic engineering department; and he always said to me that ups and
down are the part of life but a person should keep his moral and hopes high, he wrote as:
“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that, they can do
things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success......”
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Fabrication and characterization of ZnO nanostructures for sensing and photonic device
applications
Syed Muhammad Usman Ali
Department of Science and Technology
Linköping University, 2011
Abstract:
Nanotechnology is an emerging inter-disciplinary paradigm which encompasses diverse fields
of science and engineering converge at the nanoscale. Nanotechnology is not just to
grow/fabricate nanostructures by just mixing nanoscale materials together but it requires the
ability to understand and to precisely manipulate and control of the developed nanomaterials
in a useful way. Nanotechnology is aiding to substantially improve, even revolutionize, many
technology and industry sectors like information technology, energy, environmental science,
medicine/medical instrumentation, homeland security, food safety, and transportation, among
many others. Such applications of nanotechnology are delivering in both expected and
unexpected ways on nanotechnology’s promise to benefit the society.
The semiconductor ZnO with wide band gap (~ 3.37 eV) is a distinguish and unique material
and its nanostructures have attracted great attention among the researchers due to its peculiar
properties such as large exciton binding energy (60 meV) at room temperature, the high
electron mobility, high thermal conductivity, good transparency and easiness of fabricating it
in the different type of nanostructures. Based on all these fascinating properties, ZnO have
been chosen as a suitable material for the fabrication of photonic, transducers/sensors,
piezoelectric, transparent and spin electronics devices etc. The objective of the current study
is to highlight the recent developments in materials and techniques for electrochemical
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sensing and hetrostructure light emitting diodes (LEDs) luminescence properties based on the
different ZnO nanostructures. The sensor devices fabricated and characterized in the work
were applied to determine and monitor the real changes of the chemical or biochemical
species. We have successfully demonstrated the application of our fabricated devices as
primary transducers/sensors for the determination of extracellular glucose and the glucose
inside the human fat cells and frog cells using the potentiometric technique. Moreover, the
fabricated ZnO based nanosensors have also been applied for the selective determination of
uric acid, urea and metal ions successfully. This thesis relates specifically to zinc oxide
nanostructure based electrochemical sensors and photonic device (LED) applications.
The first part of the thesis includes paper I to V. In this part, we have demonstrated the
electrochemical sensing characterization and wireless remote monitoring system for glucose
based on the well aligned vertically fabricated ZnO nanowires based sensors.
In paper I, we have presented a potentiometric electrochemical glucose sensor based on zinc
oxide nanowires. Glucose oxidase (GOD) was electrostatically immobilized on the surface of
the well aligned zinc oxide nanowires resulting in sensitive, selective, stable and reproducible
glucose biosensors. The potentiometric response vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode was found
to be linear over a relatively wide logarithmic concentration range (0.5 µ to 10 mM) suitable
for extra/intracellular glucose detection.
In paper II, we have demonstrated the another technique for the determination of the glucose
using immobilized ZnO nanowires interfaced/coupled as an extended gate to the metal oxide
semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). The potentiometric response of presented
sensor was directly connected to the gate of a commercial MOSFET to study the I-V response
variation with respect to the change in the concentration of the test electrolyte glucose
solutions. Here we have successfully showed that the ZnO nanowires grown on any thin wire/
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substrate can be interfaced with conventional electronic component to produce a sensitive and
selective biosensor.
In paper III, we have successfully demonstrated the measurements of an intracellular glucose
using the functionalised ZnO-nanorod-based glucose selective electrochemical sensor in
human adipocytes and frog Xenopus laevis. The electrochemical response of the sensor was
linear for a wide concentration range (0.5 µ to 1000 µM). The measured values of the glucose
concentration inside the human fat cells (adipocytes) or frog oocytes using our proposed
sensor were close to the values reported in the literature. We have also investigated the impact
of insulin, we added insulin to the cell medium to stimulate glucose uptake and as a result an
increase in an intracellular glucose was observed.
In paper IV, this paper presents a prototype wireless remote glucose monitoring system
interfaced with ZnO nanowire arrays based glucose sensor, which can be effectively apply for
the monitoring of glucose levels in diabetes. A communication protocol that facilitates remote
data collection using SMS has been utilized for monitoring patient’s sugar level. In this study,
we demonstrate the remote monitoring of the glucose levels with existing GPRS/GSM
network infra-structures using our proposed functionalized ZnO nanowire arrays sensors
integrating with standard available mobile phones. The data can be used for centralized
monitoring and other purposes. Such applications can reduce the health care costs and provide
caregivers to monitor and support to their patients especially in the rural area.
In paper V, we have presented a potentiometric uric acid selective sensor using the zinc
oxide (ZnO) nanowires fabricated on the surface of a gold coated flexible substrate. Uricase
was electrostatically immobilized on the surface of well aligned ZnO nanowires for the
selective determination of a uric acid. The sensor showed a linear response covering a wide
logarithmic concentration range from 1 µ to 650 µM suitable for human blood serum. By
viii
incorporating the Nafion® coating on the surface of the sensor, the linear range could be
extended to 1 µ to 1000 µM at the expense of an increased response time from 6.25 s to less
than 9 s.
The second part of this thesis, different ZnO nanostructures were fabricated on p-GaN to form
a p-n heterojunction light emitting diodes (LEDs). The luminescence properties of these p-n
heterojunctions based LEDs were also comparatively investigated.
In paper VI, we have fabricated the different ZnO nanostructures like nanorods, nanotubes,
nanoflowers, and nanowalls on the p-type GaN substrates and the luminescence properties of
these heterojunction LEDs were comparatively investigated by EL and PL measurements. The
highest emission in the visible region was observed from nanowalls structures while highest
emission for UV region was observed from the nanorods structures due to their good crystal
qualities. It has also been observed that nanowalls structures demonstrated a strong white light
emission with high colour rendering index (CRI) of 95 along with correlated colour
temperature (CCT) of 6518 K.
Keywords: Nanotechnology, zinc oxide, nanowires/ nanorods, nanotubes, nanoporous/nanoflakes, electrochemical sensor and photonic devices.
ix
List of publications included in the thesis
1. A fast and sensitive potentiometric glucose microsensor based on glucose oxidase
coated ZnO nanowires grown on a thin silver wire
Syed M. Usman Ali, O. Nur, M. Willander, B. Danielsson
Sensors and Actuators B 145 (2010) 869-874.
2. Glucose detection with a commercial MOSFET using a ZnO nanowires extended
gate
Syed M. Usman Ali, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander, and Bengt Danielsson
Nanotechnology, IEEE Transaction on 8 (2009) 678-683.
3. Functionalized ZnO nanorod based intracellular glucose sensor
M. H. Asif, Syed M. Usman Ali, O. Nur, M. Willander, Cecilia Brännmark, Peter
Strålfors , Ulrika Englund , Fredrik Elinder and B. Danielsson
Biosensors and Bioelectronics 25 (2010) 2205-2211.
4. Wireless remote monitoring of glucose using functionalized ZnO nanowire arrays
based sensor
Syed M. Usman Ali, Tasuif Aijazi, Kent Axelsson, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander
Sensors 2011, 11, 8485-8496; doi:10.3390/s110908485.
5. Selective potentiometric determination of uric acid with uricase immobilized on
ZnO nanowires
Syed M. Usman Ali, N.H. Alvi, Zafar Ibupoto, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander, Bengt
Danielsson
Sensors & Actuators: Chem. B 2 (2011) 241-247.
6. Fabrication and comparative optical characterization of n-ZnO nanostructures
(nanowalls, nanorods, nanoflowers and nanotubes)/p-GaN white light emitting
diodes
N. H. Alvi, Syed M. Usman Ali, S. Hussain, O. Nur, and M. Willander
Scripta Materialia 64 (2011) 697-700.
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List of publications not included in the thesis
Journal papers
1. Alimujiang Fulati, Syed M. Usman Ali, Muhammad Riaz, Gul Amin, Omer Nur and
Magnus Willander. Miniaturized pH sensors based on zinc oxide nanotubes/nanorods.
Sensors 2009, 9(11), 8911-892.
2. M. Willander, L. L. Yang, A. Wadeasa, S. U. Ali, M. H. Asif, Q. X. Zhao and O. Nur,
Zinc oxide nanowires: controlled low temperature growth and some
electrochemical and optical nano-devices, J. Mater. Chem., 2009, 19, 1006-1018.
3. Alimujiang Fulati, Syed M. Usman Ali, Muhammad H. Asif, Naveed ul Hassan Alvi ,
Magnus Willander, Cecilia Brännmark, Peter Strålfors , Sara I. Börjesson, Fredrik Elinder,
Bengt Danielsson, An intracellular glucose biosensor based on nanoflake ZnO,
Sensors and Actuators, Chem. B 150 (2010) 673-680.
4. Muhammad H. Asif , Syed M. Usman Ali , Omer Nur , Magnus Willander, Ulrika H.
Englund, Fredrik Elinder, Functionalized ZnO nanorod-based selective magnesium ion
sensor for intracellular measurements, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 26 (2010) 1118-
1123.
5. Syed M. Usman Ali, Muhammad H. Asif , Alimujiang Fulati , Omer Nur, Magnus
Willander, Cecilia Brännmark, Peter Strålfors, Ulrika H. Englund, Fredrik Elinder and
Bengt Danielsson, Intracellular K+ determination with a potentiometric
microelectrode based on ZnO nanowires, IEEE Transaction on Nanotechnology,
volume 10, Issue 4, pp. 913-919.
6. M. Willander, O. Nur, M. H. Asif, S. M. Usman Ali, and K. Sultana, Zinc oxide
nanorods for intracellular sensing of biological analytes, metallic ions and localized
photodynamic therapy, (Manuscript).
7. Magnus Willander, O. Nur , M. Fakhar-e-Alam, J. R. Sadaf, M. Q. Israr , K. Sultana, Syed
M. Usman Ali , M. H. Asif, Applications of zinc oxide nanowires for bio-photonics
and bio-electronics, Proc. of SPIE 7940, 79400F (2011); doi:10.1117/12.879497.
8. Th. S. Dhahi, U. Hashim, T. Nazwa, M. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, Magnus Willander,
pH measurement using micro gap structure, International journal of mechanical and
materials engineering, Malaysia, accepted).
xi
9. Faraz Mahmood, Imran Mohsin, Syed M. Usman Ali , Abid Karim, Design of an ultra-
wideband monopole antenna for handheld devices, Asian journal of engineering,
sciences and technology Vol. 1 issue 1(2011).
10. M. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, M. E. Ali, H. I. Abdul gafour, U. Hashim M. Willander
and Z. Hassan, Morphological, optical and raman characterization of ZnO
nanoflakes prepared via sol-gel method, Phys. Status Solidi A, 1-5 (2011) / DOI
10.1002/pssa.201127357.
11. Syed M. Usman Ali, Zafar H. Ibupoto, Salah Salman, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander,
Bengt. Danielsson, Selective determination of urea using urease immobilized on ZnO
nanowires, Sensors & Actuators: B. Chem. 160 (2011) pp. 637-643.
12. Syed M. Usman Ali , M. Kashif , Zafar Hussain Ibupoto, M. Fakhar-e-Alam, U.
Hashim, Magnus Willander, Functionalized ZnO nanotubes arrays as electrochemical
sensor for the selective determination of glucose, Micro & Nano Letters, 2011, Vol. 6,
issue. 8, pp. 609-613.
13. Syed M. Usman Ali, Zafar Hussain Ibupoto, C. O. Chey, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander,
Bengt Danielsson, Functionalized ZnO nanotube arrays for the selective
determination of uric acid with immobilized uricase, Chemical Sensors 2011, 1: 19.
14. N. H. Alvi, Syed M. Usman Ali, K. ul Hasan, O. Nur, and M. Willander, Optical and
electro-optical properties of n-ZnO nanoflakes/p-GaN heterojunction light emitting
diodes, (Manuscript).
15. K. ul Hasan, N. H. Alvi, Syed M. Usman Ali, Jun Lu, O. Nur, and M. Willander Single
ZnO nanowire biosensor for detection of glucose interactions, (Manuscript).
16. C. O. Chey, Syed M. Usman Ali, Z. Ibupoto, K. Khun, O. Nur, M. Willander,
Potentiometric creatinine biosensor based on immobilization of creatinine deiminase
(CD) on ZnO nanowires, J. Nanosci. Lett. 2012, 2: 24.
17. Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, C.O. Chey, K. Kimleang, O. Nur, Magnus
Willander, Functionalized ZnO nanorods coated with selective ionophore for the
potentiometric determination of Zn+2 ions, (accepted in Journal of Applied Physics).
18. Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, K. Kimleang, C.O. Chey, O. Nur, Magnus
Willander, ZnO nanorods based enzymatic biosensor for the selective determination
of Penicillin, Biosensors 2011, 1(4), 153-163.
19. K. Khun, Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, C. O. Chey, O. Nur, M. Willander, The
selective iron (Fe3+) ion sensor based on functionalized ZnO nanorods with selective
ionophore (accepted in Electroanalysis).
xii
20. Syed M. Usman Ali, Zafar H. Ibupoto, O. Nur, M. Willander, Synthesis of ZnO
nanowalls for enzymatic determination of urea using immobilized urease,
21. Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, K. Kimleang, M. Willander, L-Ascorbic acid
biosensor based on immobilized enzyme on ZnO nanorods, (accepted, Journal of
Biosensors and Bioelectronics).
22. Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, K. Kimleang, M. Willander, Synthesis of ZnO
nanorods in PBS and their morphological and optical characterization, (Manuscript).
23. Z. H. Ibupoto, Syed M. Usman Ali, K, Khun and M. Willander, Thallium (I) ion sensor
based on functionalized ZnO nanorods, (submitted in Talanta journal).
24. Magnus Willander, Omer Nur and Syed M. Usman Ali, Zinc oxide nanostructures
based bio and chemical extra and intracellular sensors, submitted in African physical
review journal).
25. Z. H. Ibupoto, K. Khun, Syed M. Usman Ali, M. Willander, Potentiometric l-lactic acid
biosensor based on immobilized ZnO nanorods by lactate oxidase, (submitted).
26. Syed M. Usman Ali, Z. H. Ibupoto, M, Kashif, U. Hashim, Magnus Willander,
Construction of potentiometric uric acid sensor based on ZnO nanoflakes with
immobilized uricase (manuscript).
Conference papers
27. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, K. L. Foo, U. Hashim, Magnus Willander, ZnO
nanoporous structure growth, optical and structural characterization by aqueous
solution route, enabling science and nanotechnology: 2010 International conference on
enabling science and nanotechnology Escinano 2010. AIP Conference proceedings,
volume 1341, pp. 92-95 (2011).
28. Muhammad H. Asif , Syed M. Usman Ali , Omer Nur, Magnus Willander , Ulrika H.
Englund, Fredrik Elinder, Functionalized ZnO nanorod-based selective magnesium ion
sensor for intracellular measurements, Biosensor world congress 2010, Glasgow UK,
26-28 May.
29. Syed M. Usman Ali , U. Hashim, Zafar Ibupoto, M, Kashif, M. Fakhar-e-Alam, Magnus
Willander, ZnO nanoporous arrays based biosensor for highly sensitive and selective
determination of uric acid using immobilized uricase, INSC 2011 4th to 5th July, 2011
Seri Kembangan Selangor, Malaysia.
(manuscript).
xiii
30. M, Kashif, U. Hashim, Syed M. Usman Ali , Magnus Willander, Effect of Sn doping on
crystal structure and optical properties of ZnO thin films, INMIC 2011, Karachi
Pakistan Accepted.
31. M. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, U. Hashim, Magnus Willander, Fabrication of n-ZnO-
NPs/p Si heterojunction and its electro-optical characterization, INSC 2011 4th to 5th
July, Seri Kembangan Selangor, Malaysia.
32. M. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, U. Hashim, Magnus Willander, Structural and
electrical study of ZnO: Al nanorods, IPEC 2011, international Conference in Malaysia.
33. Syed M. Usman Ali, M. Kashif, Faraz Mahmood, Aamir H. Khan, Uda Hashim, Magnus
Willander, SMS based remote monitoring of glucose using ZnO nanotubes based
nanosensor, IPEC 2011, 22-23 October, international Conference in Malaysia.
34. Faraz Mahmood, Syed M Usman Ali, M. Kashif, U. Hashim, Magnus Karlsson and
Magnus Willander, Design of a Broadband Monopole Antenna for Handheld
Applications, IPEC 2011, 22-23 October, international Conference in Malaysia.
35. Syed M. Usman Ali, C. O .Chey, Z. H. Ibupoto, M. Kashif, U. Hashim, Magnus
Willander, Selective determination of cholesterol using functionalized ZnO nanotubes
based sensor, CLV-02, Vinh city, 11-15 October 2011, Cambodia,
36. K.L. Foo, M. Kashif, U. Hashim, Syed M. Usman Ali, M. Willander, Growth of ZnO
thin film on silicon substrate for optical application by using sol–gel spin coating
method, Accepted in ICOBE 2012, international Conference, Malaysia.
37. Faraz Mahmood, Syed M Usman Ali, C. O. Chey, H. Ing, Magnus Willander, Design of
a broadband monopole antenna for mobile handsets, CLV-02, Vinh city, 11-15
October 2011, Cambodia.
38. Faraz Mahmood, Syed M Usman Ali, Mahmood Alam and Magnus Willander, Design
of WLAN patch and UWB monopole antenna, IMTIC ’12, submitted to international
multi-topic conference, 28-30 March 2012, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan
39. Syed M. Usman Ali, C. O. Chey, Z. H. Ibupoto, O. Nur, M. Willander, Fabrication and
characterization of hetro-junction light emitting diode based on n-ZnO nanoporous
structure grown on p-GaN, CLV-02, Vinh city, 11-15 October 2011, Cambodia.
40. C. O. Chey, Syed M. Usman Ali, Z. H. Ibupoto, C. Sann, Kimleang Khun, K. Meak, O.
Nur, M. Willander, Fabrication and characterization of light emitting diodes based on
n-ZnO nanotubes grown by a low temperature aqueous chemical method on p-GaN,
CLV-02, Vinh City, 11-15 October 2011, Cambodia.
xiv
41. Syed M. Usman Ali, M. Kashif, Z. H Ibupoto, C. O. Chey, U. Hashim, Magnus
Willander, Sensing and optical characteristics of ZnO nanotubes fabricated through
two step aqueous chemical route, IPEC 2011, 22-23 October, international conference in
Malaysia.
42. M. Kashif, Syed M. Usman Ali, Z .H Ibupoto, Mojtaba Nasr-Esfahani, U. Hashim,
Magnus Willander, Growth of ZnO nanorods and effect of seed layer on
interdigitated electrode (IDE) impedance, submitted to Nanotech 2012, International
conference in Iran.
43. Syed M. Usman Ali, Z. H. Ibupoto, M. Kashif, Mojtaba Nasr-Esfahani, U. Hashim, M.
Willander, Synthesis and electro-optical characterization of n-ZnO nanoflakes/p-GaN
heterojunction light emitting diode, submitted to Nanotech 2012, International
conference in Iran.
44. Syed M. Usman Ali, M. Kashif, Z. H Ibupoto, Mojtaba Nasr-Esfahani, U. Hashim.
Magnus Willander, Optical and electrochemical sensing characterization of ZnO
nanoflakes, submitted to Nanotech 2012, International conference in Iran.
xv
Acknowledgments
All praise goes to ALLAH, who created the whole universe and selected human as the best among all creation. This is a memorable occasion in my life to finish the writing of my PhD thesis. I begin my acknowledgement while expressing my thanks to Almighty ALLAH who always blessed and granted me the capabilities to comprehend and learn the new inter-disciplinary field named “Nanotechnology” in the execution of this research work. In the course of completion of this PhD thesis, many people have directly or indirectly supported. That includes my family members, teachers, colleagues and all friends. At this moment, I am deeply indebted to all of them and my gratitude is beyond the words.
Firstly, I would like to express my heartiest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Magnus Willander for his useful and inspiring guidance, and consistent encouragement without which this thesis would have not been materialized. I greatly appreciate his supervision during entire PhD studies.
I would like to thank my co-supervisor associate Prof. Omer Nour for his contribution, patience and guidance during my study and research work.
I would like to pay my sincere thanks to Prof. Bengt Danielsson for his magnanimous guidance and support to work successfully on ZnO based nanosensors and collaboration at Lund University, Sweden.
I would like to thank the ex-research administrator Lise-Lotte Lönndahl Ragnar and our present research administrator Ann-Christin Norén for their administrative help during my studies and research work.
I am also thankful to Prof. Igor Zozoulenko, Prof. Shaofang Gong, Dr. Qingxiang Zhao, Dr. Adriana Serban, Dr. Magnus Karlsson, Dr. Alim Fulati, Dr. Lili Yang, Dr. Ari, Dr Amir Baranzahi, Dr. Daniel Simon, Prof. Uda Hashim (Malaysia) and M. Kashif (Malaysia), Annelie Eveborn for their endless cooperation in my research works and studies.
Besides, Zafar Hussain Ibupoto, Chey Chen, Kimleang Khun, Naveed, Kamran, Gul, Faraz Mahmood, Mazhar, Dr. LiLi, Amal, Olga, Kristin Persson, Azam, Mushtaque, Yousaf, Zaka Ullah Sheikh, Owais Khan, Saima Zaman, Ahmed, Asif, Kishwer, Zia Ullah and all the other group members; thank you very much for the insightful collaboration, friendship, and help. My sincerest wishes and warmest thanks to all my group members and I will never forget sharing the difficult and happy moments during my stay here in Norrköping.
Words are lacking to express my heartiest gratitude to the authorities of the NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi Pakistan for nominating me for the PhD studies at Linköping University, Sweden. I would also like to thank for providing me the partial financial help for completing my PhD studies over here.
xvi
For my family, Mom, Mom in law, all brothers and sisters and all in laws; my words cannot describe my immense feeling of appreciation for them. Mom, even though, I haven’t been there with you for all these years but I missed you a lot and always prayed for your good health. I know you always prayed for me and my success. Thanks for your prayers, encouragement and unforgettable sacrifices with patience throughout my life and PhD studies abroad.
Last but not least, my beloved wife, Soofia who did a great care of me and my sweet children Syeda Hiba Fatima, Syeda Aiman Fatima, Syeda Kinza Fatima and Syed Hussam Muhammad Ali. Words are hardly enough to express my gratitude to all of them and their endurance for my PhD studies. May Allah bless on all of us; Ameen. “I especially acknowledge the sacrifices of my wife Soofia who missed and did not attend the marriage ceremony of her beloved brother Meraj ul Haq, held in December 2009 and the funeral ceremony of her most beloved brother Ibtehaj ul Haq who died suddenly in heart failure in October 2010, due to my limited scholarship and stiff financial status. May ALLAH grant her Saber-e-Jameel (Patience) and bless the soul of her deceased brother with eternal peace (Ameen)”.
xvii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 ......................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 2 ......................................................................................................................... 7
Material properties of ZnO ......................................................................................... 7
2.1 Semiconductor ZnO basic properties .......................................................... 7
2.2 Physical properties of ZnO .......................................................................... 9
2.3 Defects and emission properties of ZnO ................................................... 11
2.4 Electrical properties of ZnO ...................................................................... 15
2.5 ZnO nanostructures based electrochemical sensors .................................. 17
CHAPTER 3 ....................................................................................................................... 25
Fabrication of ZnO nanostructures and device processing ....................................... 25
3.1 Substrate preparation ................................................................................. 25 3.1.1 Substrate cleaning ........................................................................ 26 3.1.2 Fabrication of ZnO nanostructures .............................................. 27
3.2 Bottom contacts deposition ....................................................................... 33
3.3 Photoresist and plasma etching ................................................................. 34
3.4 Top contacts deposition ............................................................................. 35
CHAPTER 4 ....................................................................................................................... 37
Experimental and characterization techniques ......................................................... 37
4.1 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) .................................................................................. 37
4.2 Atomic force microscope .......................................................................... 38
4.3 X-ray diffraction ........................................................................................ 39
4.4 Electrochemical measurements using ZnO nanostructure based sensors . 41
4.5 Photoluminescence .................................................................................... 43
4.6 Electroluminescence .................................................................................. 45
4.7 Electrical (current voltage I-V) characterizations ..................................... 45
xviii
CHAPTER 5 ....................................................................................................................... 48
Results and discussions ............................................................................................ 48
5.1 Electrochemical nano-sensors ................................................................... 48 5.1.1 Potentiometric electrochemical glucose sensor (Paper I) ............ 48 5.1.2 Zinc oxide nanowires as extended gate MOSFET for
glucosedetection (Paper II) .......................................................... 51 5.1.3 An intracellular glucose sensor using the functionalised ZnO nanorods (Paper III) ..................................................................... 54 5.1.4 Wireless remote glucose monitoring system (paper IV) .............. 58 5.1.5 Selective determination of uric acid (Paper V) ............................ 62
5.2 Emission properties of nanostructures based photonic devices (Paper VI) .................................................................................................. 66
CHATPER 6 ....................................................................................................................... 73
Conclusion and outlook ..................................................................................................... 73
CHAPTER 7 ....................................................................................................................... 75
My contributions to included papers ................................................................................ 75
xix
List of figures
Figure 1: Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of some ZnO nanostructures fabricated on different substrate using the aqueous chemical growth technique ................... 3
Figure 2.1: The hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO unit cell. The blue circle represents the zinc ions and brown circle represents the oxygen ions coordinated tetrahedrally ............................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 2.2: Showing the PL spectra of ZnO nanoflowers and EL spectra of ZnO nanorods based light emitting diodes (LED) at room temperature [1] ................................ 11
Figure 2.3: The current voltage (I-V) characterization of different ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN LEDs [1] ........................................................................................ 16
Fig. 3.1: Schematic diagram showing the different steps of the device (LED) fabrication ............................................................................................................................. 26
Figure 3.2: SEM image of ZnO nanorods fabricated on p-type GaN substrate using low temperature aqueous chemical growth technique ......................................................... 27
Figure 3.3 (a-d): SEM images for ZnO nanorods/nanowires fabricated under different growth parameters ................................................................................................................ 29
Figure 3.4: SEM image of ZnO nanotubes fabricated on the p-type GaN substrate .......... 30
Figure 3.5: SEM image of ZnO nanowalls on p-type GaN substrate ................................. 31
Figure 3.6: SEM image of ZnO nanoflowers fabricated on p-type GaN substrate ............. 32
Figure 3.7: SEM image of ZnO nanowires fabricated through sol gel method on p-type GaN substrate ............................................................................................................... 33
Figure 4.1: EDX spectrum of ZnO nanowires on a gold coated plastic substrate .............. 38
Figure 4.2: AFM (10µm x10µm) image of ZnO nanowalls fabricated on p-type GaN substrate ................................................................................................................................ 39
Figure 4.3: A schematic diagram of Bragg reflection from crystalline lattice planes having interplan distance “d” between two lattice plane ..................................................... 40
Figure 4.4: Display the Ө-2Ө XRD spectra of ZnO (a) nanowalls, (b) nanorods, (c) nanoflowers, and (d) nanotubes grown on p-GaN substrates, respectively ......................... 41
Figure 4.5: Schematic diagram of potentiometric measuring setup .................................... 42
Figure 4.6: A schematic diagram illustrating the selective intracellular glucose sensor .... 43
Figure 4.7: Schematic diagram of photoluminescence (PL) setup ..................................... 44
xx
Fig. 5.1 (a): Calibration curve showing the time response of the sensor electrode in 50 µM glucose solution (b) Calibration curve showing electrochemical response (EMF) vs. logarithmic glucose concentrations using ZnO sensor electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode [1] .......................................................................................................... 50 Fig. 5.2: Schematic diagram illustrating the configuration used for glucose detection with MOSFET using extended-gate functionalized ZnO nanowires as working electrode and Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode [6] ............................................................ 52
Figure 5.3 (a): Typical drain current (ID ) versus gate voltage (VG) for the extended-gate MOSFET, the upper curve (line) is for 50 μM glucose solution while the lower curve (dotted line) is for the case of 100 μM of glucose concentration. (b) Relation between the drain current and glucose concentration for a range of 1–100 μM glucose concentration [6] .................................................................................................................. 54
Figure 5.4: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the ZnO nanorods fabricated on Ag-coated glass capillaries using ACG method :( a and b) before enzyme immobilisation and (c) after enzyme immobilisation [7] ..................................................... 55
Figure 5.5: A calibration curve showing the electrochemical potential difference versus the glucose concentration (0.5–1mM) using functionalised ZnO-nanorod-coated probe as a working electrode and an Ag/AgCl microelectrode reference microelectrode [7] ......................................................................................................................................... 56
Figure 5.6: (a) Intracellular mechanism for insulin-induced activation of glucose uptake. (b) Output response (EMF) with respect to time for intracellularly positioned electrodes when insulin is applied to the extracellular solution [7] .................................... 58
Figure 5.7: The proposed system block diagram of wireless remote monitoring system for the functionalized ZnO nanowire arrays based glucose sensor [12] .................. 59
Figure 5.8: (a) Calibration curve of the sensor electrode showing the stable and smooth signal in 50 µM glucose solution (b) inset curve showing the time response of the sensor [12] ...................................................................................................................... 61
Figure 5.9: The proposed system circuit diagram of the designed prototype circuit board [12] ............................................................................................................................. 61
Figure 5.10: (a) Calibration curves for the uric acids sensor with membrane [14] ............ 62
Figure 5.11: (a) Time response of the sensor in 100 µM test solution of uric acid without membrane coating [14] ........................................................................................... 63
Figure 5.11: (b) Time response of the sensor in 100 µM test solution of uric acid with membrane coating [14] ......................................................................................................... 64
xxi
Figure 5.12: (a) Calibration curves from three different experiments using the same sensor electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode [14] ..................................................... 65 Figure 5.12: (b) The sensor to sensor reproducibility of five (n = 5) ZnO nanowires/uricase/ Nafion® electrodes in 100 µM test solution of uric acid [14] .............. 65 Figure 5.13: (a-e) Showing the room temperature PL spectrum for ZnO nanostructures (a) nanowalls (b) nanorods (c) nanoflowers and (d) nanotubes on p-GaN and (e) showed the combined PL spectra of all the four nanostructures [15] ............. 67 Figure 5.14: (a-e) showing the EL spectra for n-ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN LEDs, in (a) nanowalls, (b) nanoflowers (c) nanorods, and (d) nanotubes, (e) showing the combined EL spectra of all the nanostructures, and (f) shows the CIE 1931 x, y chromaticity space of ZnO nanostructures based LEDs [15] ............................................... 69 Figure 5.15: Showing the combined current-voltage (I-V) characterizations for the different ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN based LEDs [15] ..................................................... 70
xxii
List of tables
Table 2.1: Basic physical parameters of ZnO at room temperature [17-20] ....................... 10
Table 4.1: Different alloys combination (metallization) for the ohmic contacts for p-type GaN .............................................................................................................................. 34
Table 4.2: Different ohmic contacts combination enlisted for n-type ZnO ........................ 35
1
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Today, semiconductor devices have become an integral and indispensible part of our daily life
and we could not think to live without them. The current technological advances in the
semiconductor devices based on different semiconducting materials is the backbone of the
modern electronics industry including high tech. laptops, TV, cellular phones (iPhones) and
many other devices. Currently, the semiconductor silicon (Si) keeps the dominant position in
the modern electronic industry, which is used to fabricate the discrete and very large scale
integrated circuits (VLSI) for different application such as computing, data storage and
telecommunications etc. Moreover, the modern industrial trend is to miniaturize the electronic
devices and increase their efficiency. The process of miniaturization was well defined by
Gordon E. Moore in his famous ‘‘Moore’s law’’ which describe that the number of transistors
on a chip doubles every second year [1]. However, as the size of the devices continues to
reduce but the process of miniaturization will eventually have reached to the point where
existing Si devices could not follow the ‘‘Moore’s law’’ anymore and where quantum
mechanical effect dominates and becomes a reality that is indispensable in device design. In
addition, Si is not a promising candidate for optoelectronic devices due to its indirect band
gap such as white light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. To overcome this problem
GaAs with direct band gap was chosen but due to the rapid development of information
technologies, the requirement of ultraviolet (UV) / blue light emitter applications has become
vastly increased which is beyond the limits of GaAs. Therefore, scientists have attracted
towards the other wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC, GaN and ZnO, i.e. the third
generation semiconductors, due to their especial features in the field of semiconductor.
2
Nanotechnology has an inter-disciplinary nature which emerged from the efforts made
between sciences and engineering by applying the bottom-up or top-down methodologies. In
the nanotechnology, Low-dimensional structures possess novel physical and chemical
properties, and hence they are of basic building blocks with today’s technology.
Nanostructures such as one dimensional, two-dimensional or even zero-dimensional can be
reproducibly fabricated on different substrates and explored for different applications to
fabricate the “nanodevices”. Among these low-dimensional structures, nanowires, nanotubes,
nanoflakes and etc., have become the promising candidates for the researchers in science and
engineering due to their unique and interesting properties for the device application at
nanoscale. In past decade, nanorods based on different materials have been successfully
synthesised such as Si, GaN, SnO and ZnO and reported in literature [2-5]. Among the
diverse materials, ZnO is one of the most exciting contenders for the fabrication of different
nanostructures and probably has the richest variety of different nanostructures and few are
shown in figure 1. Due to the various advances in the fabrication of nanoscale materials and
their characterization tools have triggered the research activities in this area. As a result,
theses nanoscale materials may find a wide range of applications in optoelectronic devices,
sensors/transducers, nano-sensors (chemical/biosensing), nano-laser, nano-electromechanical
systems (NEMS), nano-electronics, and nano-cantilevers etc. Moreover, there is a potential in
employing such nanostructures as “wireless” devices with self-powering capability, in some
applications, such as an electrochemical potentiometric nanosensors, and devices based on
piezoelectric effect etc. However, the challenge is the conversion of the property in focus to
electrical signal. When this is achieved, different nano-integrated systems can be made
available very easily.
3
Figure 1: Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of some ZnO nanostructures fabricated on different substrate using the aqueous chemical growth technique.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is II-VI compound semiconductor material in periodic table and it has been
under intensive focused among the researchers because of its special properties such as high
electron mobility with undoped state, high thermal conductivity, good transparency, wide
band gap (~3.37 eV), large exciton binding energy (60 meV) which is much larger than that
of GaN (21 meV) and even room temperature thermal excited energy (25 meV). Moreover, a
simple process for fabricating its different nanostructure by adopting the various techniques to
make ZnO nanostructures suitable for optoelectronics and in light emitting diodes [6],
chemical sensors [7], hydrogen storage [8] etc. The ZnO possess unique physical properties
4
and can be fabricated into different morphologies including one dimensional (1D)
nanorods/nanowires, nanotubes, nano-belt, and nano-needles [9-12] and two dimensional
(2D) ZnO nanostructures, such as nanosheets, nanoplates, nanowalls, and nanoporous [13-16]
etc., have high surface to volume ratios and making them useful for a variety of applications
such as catalysts, nano-sieve filters, gas sensors [17] and etc. The use of nanomaterials has
allowed the introduction of many new signal transduction technologies in sensors/transducers
resulting in improved sensitivity and performance. Moreover, due to the unique properties of
nanostructures/nanomaterials in the electrochemical sensing area, nanosensors offer some
significant advantages owing to their small size and high surface area to volume ratios
allowing larger signals, better catalysis and the more rapid movement of analytes through
sensors. In general, nanostructures such as ZnO nanowires, nanotubes and nonporous are
attractive for their versatile roles in bioelectronics and nanoelectronics applications and they
are increasingly being used as main building blocks for electrochemical sensing designs. In
addition, it has been reported that ZnO possess the conducive properties like excellent
biological compatibility, non-toxicity, bio-safety, high-electron transfer rates, enhanced
analytical performance, increased sensitivity, easy fabrication and low cost [18-19].
Moreover, ZnO has a high isoelectric point (IEP) of about 9.5, which should provide a
positively charged substrate for immobilization of low IEP proteins or enzyme such as
glucose oxidase (IEP ≈ 4.5) and etc. In addition, ZnO has high ionic bonding (60%), and it is
dissolve very slowly at biological pH values. The proposed p-n heterojunction LEDs
possessing a promising future as a white light source for the future low power consumption
lightening applications because they emits light covering the whole visible spectrum without
applying any conversion methodologies. The through studies for the optical properties of p-n
heterojunction like (n-ZnO/p-GaN) LEDs are still under investigations. The ZnO nanorods
and nanotubes based p-n heterojunction (n-ZnO/p-GaN) LEDs are highly attractive due to
5
their potential to enhance the light extraction [20] as compared to its counterpart ZnO
nanostructures/p-GaN based thin films LEDs. The first objective of the present thesis is to
describe the electrochemical sensing application of ZnO nanostructures and make them
suitable and convenient for wireless sensing/remote monitoring systems applications. Second,
different n-ZnO nanostructures were fabricated by using low cost aqueous chemical growth
(ACG) technique on p-type GaN substrates to form a white light emitting LEDs. The colour
qualities of emitted spectra and luminescence properties of the fabricated LEDs were also
studied.
The present thesis has been devised in the following sequence; Chapter 1 Introduction,
Chapter 2 describes some of the basic properties of ZnO related to this thesis. Chapter 3
describes the fabrication of ZnO nanostructures and device processing used in current studies,
Chapter 4 presents the characterization tools applied for the experiments in the present
investigations, Chapter 5 presents the results and discussion and finally, the thesis is
concluded in Chapter 6.
6
References:
[1] G. E. Moore, Electronics, 1965, 38, 33.
[2] P. Kim, C.M. Lieber, Science 1999, 286, 2148.
[3] Z.R. Dai, J.L. Gole, J.D. Stout, Z.L. Wang, J. Phys. Chem. B. 2002, 106,1274.
[4] S. Gradecak, F. Qian, Y. Li, H. Park, C.M. Lieber, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2005, 87, 173111.
[5] Z. L. Wang, J. Song, Science 2005, 312, 242.
[6] N. H. Alvi, S. M. Usman Ali, S. Hussain, O. Nur, and M. Willander, Scripta Materialia.
2011, 64, 697.
[7] A. Umar, M. M. Rahman, S. H. Kim, and Y.-B. Hahn, Chem.Commun. 2008, 166.
[8] Q. Wan, C.L. Lin, X.B. Yu, and T.H. Wang, Apply. Phys. Lett. 2004, 84, 124.
[9] A. Manekkathodi, M. Y. Lu, C. W. Wang, and L. J. Chen, Adv. Mater. 2010, 22, 4059.
[10] Y. Xi, J. Song, S. Xu, R. Yang, Z. Gao, C. Hu, and Z. L. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. 2009,
19, 9260.
[11] B. Q. Cao, Z. M. Liu, H. Y. Xu, H. B. Gong, D. Nakamura, K. Sakai, M. Higashihata,
and T. Okada, Cryst. Eng. Commun. 13. 2011, 4282.
[12] S. Cho and K. H. Lee, Cryst. Growth Des. 2009, 10, 1289.
[13] N. Wang, L. Jiang, H. Peng, and G. Li, Cryst. Res. And Technol. 2009, 44, 34.
[14] J. P. Cheng, Z. M. Liao, D. Shi, F. Liu, and X. B. Zhang, J. Alloys Compd.2009, 480,
741.
[15] M. Mäder, J. W. Gerlach, T. Höche, C. Czekalla, M. Lorenz, M. Grundmann, and B.
Rauschenbach, phys. status solidi RRL. 2008, 2, 200.
[16] M. Kashif, S. M. U. Ali, K. L. Foo, U. Hashim, and M. Willander, AIP Conference
Proceedings. 2010, 1341, 92.
[17] J.F. Chang, H.H. Kuo, I.C. Leu, and M.H. Hon, Sens. Actuators B. 2002, 84, 258.
[18] P. D. Batista, and M. Mulato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2005, 87, 143508.
[19] B. S. Kang, F. Ren, Y. W. Heo, L. C. Tien, D. P. Norton, and S. J. Pearton, Appl. Phys.
Lett. 2005, 86, 112105.
[20] A. M. C. Ng, Y. Y. Xi, Y. F. Hsu, A. B. Djurisic, W. K. Chan, S. G. wo, H. L. Tam, K.
W. Cheah, P. W. K. Fong, H. F. Lui, and C. Surya, Nanotechnology. 2009, 20, 445201.
7
CHAPTER 2
Material properties of ZnO
During the last decade, new nanomaterials/nanostructures based device structures have
attracted a great attention because of their fascinating properties and potential as building
blocks for electronics, optoelectronics, and sensor applications. These properties make the
ZnO a promising material for the fabrication of the nanodevices such as light emitting diodes
[1-2], electrochemical sensors [3-4], ultra-violet (UV) detectors [5-6], nanogenerators [7] and
etc. Currently, zinc oxide is the most studied material among metal oxides due to its broad
application list related to its semiconducting, optical and piezoelectric properties and etc.,
respectively. For instance, ZnO-based devices can be used in optoelectronics,
sensors/transducers and lasers etc. Here some of the properties of ZnO are highlighted:
2.1 Basic properties of ZnO
2.2 Physical properties of ZnO
2.3 Optical properties of ZnO
2.4 Electrical properties of ZnO
2.5 Electrochemical sensing aspect of ZnO.
2.1 Semiconductor ZnO basic properties
ZnO normally forms in the hexagonal (wurtzite) crystal structure as illustrated in figure 2.1, it
has the lattice parameter a = 3.25 Å and c = 5.12 Å. The large difference in the values of
electronegativity (Oxygen = 3.44 and Zinc = 1.65) responsible for the strong ionic bonding
between them. In the wurtzite structures, the zinc (Zn) atoms are tetrahedrally co-ordinated to
four oxygen (O) atoms stacked alternately along the c-axis. Generally, ZnO unit cell is neutral
in which an oxygen anion is encircled by four zinc cations at the corner of a tetrahedron, and
8
vice versa. The distribution of the cations and anions could take specific configuration as
determined by crystallography technique, so that some surfaces can be terminated entirely
with cations or anions, resulting in positively or negatively charged surfaces, called polar
surfaces. These polar surfaces of the ZnO have untransferable and unchangeable ionic charges
and their interaction at the surface depends on their distribution. Thus, in results the structures
have been shaped with a minimal electrostatic energy which is responsible for the fabrication
of polar surface dominated nanostructures. This phenomenal effect results for the fabrication
of different ZnO one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure such as nanowires, nanorods,
nanotubes, nanospring, nanocages, nanobelts and etc., [8-9].
Figure 2.1: The hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO unit cell. The blue circle represents the zinc ions and brown circle represents the oxygen ions coordinated tetrahedrally.
Generally, wurtzite structure of ZnO comprises on four common surfaces, two of them are
polar i.e., Zn (0001) and O (000 1) which have terminated faces along the c axis and two are
non-polar (11 20) and (10 10) faces and these nonpolar surfaces possess equal number of zinc
(Zn) and oxygen (O) atoms. In contrast, the polar surfaces are responsible for the different
9
chemical and physical properties of ZnO. The most common polar surface is the basal plane.
The presence of polarized charged ions, different surfaces like positively charged Zn-(0001)
and negatively charged O-(000 1) polar surfaces are produced, resulting in a normal dipole
moment and spontaneous polarization along the c-axis as well as a divergence in surface
energy. To maintain a stable structure, the polar surfaces generally have facets or exhibit
massive surface reconstructions, but ZnO ± (0001) are exception, which are atomically flat,
stable and without reconstruction [10-11]. Understanding the superior stability of the ZnO ±
(0001) polar surfaces is a forefront research in today’s surface physics [12-14]. In addition to
the wurtzite structure, ZnO can be transformed to the rocksalt (NaCl) structures at relatively
modest external hydrostatic pressures. In ZnO, the pressure-induced phase transition from the
wurtzite (B4) to the rock salt (B1) phase occurs at approximately 10 GPa [15]. Thus, the
several properties of ZnO nanostructured materials depend on its polarity, growth, etching,
defect generation and plasticity, spontaneous polarization and piezoelectricity. ZnO is a
versatile wideband semiconductor as compared to its contenders like GaN in properties and
applications. In fact, ZnO have several advantages as compared to the existing devices
fabricated from other wideband semiconductors in which the most important property of ZnO
is its high exciton binding energy of ZnO i.e. 60 meV at room temperature compared to its
counterpart GaN (25 meV). This high exciton binging energy is responsible to enhance the
efficiency of light emission. Several reviews on ZnO bulk, thin film, and one-dimensional
materials have been reported in the literature. A comprehensive review on various aspects of
ZnO bulk material, thin films, and nanostructures is reported [16].
2.2 Physical properties of ZnO
There are few basic physical parameters for the ZnO at the room temperature which is listed
in table 2.1 [17-20]. There is still some uncertainty in the values of the thermal conductivity
10
due to the presence of some crystal defects in the material [21]. In addition, a stable and
reproducible p-type doping in ZnO is still a challenge and cannot be achieved. The findings
regarding the values related to the mobility of hole and its effective mass are still arguable.
The values of the carrier mobility can surely be enhanced after achieving good control on the
defects in the material [22].
Table 2.1: Basic physical parameters of ZnO at room temperature [17-20].
S.No Parameters Values
1 Lattice constants at 300 K a = 0.32495 nm, c = 0.52069 nm
2 Density 5.67526 g/cm3
3 Molecular mass 81.389 g/mol
4 Melting point 2250 K
5 Electron effective mass 0.28 m0
6 Hole effective mass 0.59 m0
7 Static dielectric constant 8.656
8 Refractive index 2.008, 2.029
9 Bandgap energy at 300 K 3.37 eV
10 Exciton binding energy 60 meV
11 Thermal conductivity 0.6 – 1.16 W/Km
12 Specific heat 0.125 cal/g°C
13 Thermal constant at 573 1200 mV/K
14 Electron mobility ∼210 cm2/Vs
11
2.3 Defects and emission properties of ZnO
The semiconductor materials electro-optical properties are mainly dependent on the intrinsic
and the extrinsic defects which are present in the crystal structures. Recently, the optical
properties of ZnO, particularly ZnO nanostructures, have been a main focused among the
researchers due to its wide band-gap (~3.37 eV at room temperature), which makes ZnO a
promising material for photonic applications in the UV or blue spectral range, while the high
exciton-binding energy (60 meV), which is much larger than that of GaN (25 meV), allows
efficient excitonic emission even at room temperature. The efficient radiative recombinations
have made ZnO very attractive in optoelectronics applications. There are various techniques
through which the optical/ luminescence properties of ZnO (both nanostructures and bulk)
have been thoroughly investigated at low and room temperatures. The spectra obtained from
photoluminescence (PL) measurements of ZnO nanoflowers and spectra from
electroluminescence (EL) of ZnO nanorods based heterojunction LED at room temperature
are shown in figure 2.3 (a-b).
Figure 2.2(a-b): Showing the PL spectra of ZnO nanoflowers and EL spectra of ZnO nanorods based light emitting diodes (LED) at room temperature [1].
12
In the PL spectra, the ultra-violet (UV) emission band and a broad visible emission band were
observed. The UV peak generally observed due to the phenomena of transition
recombinations of free excitons (F.E) in the near band-edge of ZnO. The excitons may have
activities like they can be free and able to move through the crystal or they can be bound to
donors and accepters with neutral or charged states [1]. The broad visible region (420 nm -
750 nm) as shown in the above figure 2.3 (a) is attributed due to the presence of deep level
defects in ZnO. The optical and electrical properties of ZnO can be altered due to the changes
of these deep level defects in the crystal structure of ZnO. These defects can be introduced
during the fabrication process or by applying other techniques like the post annealing or ion
implantation. The optical properties of the ZnO associated with the extrinsic and intrinsic
defects and are still under moot since 1960. Especially, the origin of intrinsic emission from
ZnO is still arguable due to the presence of native point defects in the structure. The ZnO
structure possess the donor and accepter energy levels and these are present at below and
above the conduction band (CB) and valance band (VB) respectively and responsible for the
near-band edge emissions. Moreover, the emission of whole visible region (400-750 nm) is
due to the presence of different deep energy levels within the bandgap and the origin of these
defects are still under moot and several research groups have reported different origins for
these deep level defects as described in references [8, 18, 23-39]. The defects can be
categorized into three types, like the line defects, point defects and complex defects which are
present in the crystal structure. The line defects occurred due to the disruptions into the rows
of atoms, whereas the point defects are generated due to the isolated atoms in localized
regions and complex defects were formed when more than one point defects have merged.
The extrinsic point defects are generated if impurities/foreign atoms were incorporated in the
structure, while for intrinsic defects comprises only on the host atoms. The intrinsic optical
recombinations occurred between the electrons and holes present in the CB and VB
13
respectively [18]. In addition, the deep level emission (DLE) band or whole visible
range(400-750 nm) in ZnO has been previously attributed due to the presence of various
intrinsic defects in the structure like the oxygen vacancies (VO) [40-44], oxygen interstitial
(Oi) [29-32], zinc vacancies (VZn) [33-36], zinc interstitial (Zni) [37-38] and oxygen anti-site
(OZn) and zinc anti-site (ZnO) [39]. However the extrinsic defects such as permutation of Cu
and Li [31, 45] are also suggested to be involved in deep level emissions. ZnO crystal
structures also possess two types of intrinsic vacancy defects recognized as oxygen vacancy
(Vo) and zinc vacancy (Vzn). The green emission from ZnO is due to the presence of single
ionized oxygen vacancies. However, in case of zinc rich growth, the oxygen vacancy has
lower formation energy than the zinc interstitial and dominates, whereas doubly ionized
oxygen vacancies are responsible for the red emission from ZnO [46]. The origin of the green
emission in ZnO is still arguable and several hypotheses have been reported for this emission
[23, 47-54]. Zinc vacancies were soundly studied and reported in the literature by some
groups to be the source of the green emission positioned at 2.4-2.6 eV below the CB in ZnO
[55-56]. Some researchers have also reported that oxygen vacancies are responsible for the
green emission as well in ZnO as described in [57-58, 53]. In addition, it has also been
reported that the oxygen interstitials and extrinsic deep levels defects such as Cu are sources
of the green emission in ZnO [59]. Recently, it has been reported that many deep level defects
are responsible for the green emission in ZnO along the VO and Vzn both contribute to the
green emission [46, 59-60]. The zinc vacancies are also considered to be the main source of
blue emission in ZnO. The recombination process between the zinc interstitial (Zni) energy
level to Vzn energy level is also responsible for the blue emission and this corresponds to ~
2.84 eV(436 nm). These phenomena can be described by utilizing the full potential linear
muffin-tin orbital method, which define the position of the Vzn level that is placed at ~ 3.06
eV below the CB, while the position of the Zni level is theoretically calculated at a position at
14
~ 0.22 eV below the CB [61]. In the structure of ZnO, oxygen interstitial (Oi) and zinc
interstitial (Zni) are the two common defects exists and intrinsic in nature. Typically zinc
interstitial defects are positioned at ~ 0.22 eV below the CB and play important part for the
visible emissions in ZnO due to the recombination process among Zni and different defects
that exists in the deep levels like oxygen and zinc vacancies, oxygen interstitials which are the
main source for the different colour emission such as blue, red and green emissions in ZnO
[61]. Oxygen interstitials defects are normally positioned at 2.28 eV below the CB and
generate the orange-red emissions in ZnO [86-98]. The oxygen interstitials defects are also
responsible for yellow emission as reported in literature [35, 64]. Some research groups have
also reported recently that by adding Oi and Li impurities in the growth material using ACG
method were also responsible for yellow emission [31]. The presence of Zn (OH)2 that is
attached to the surface of the nanorods during the chemically growth process is also
responsible for yellow emission. There are some defects known as the anti-site defects which
are generated in the ZnO structure due to the occupying of wrong lattice position, for example
it happened when the zinc fills the oxygen position or oxygen fills zinc position in the lattice.
Such types of defects can be merged into ZnO by applying the ion implantation or irradiation
processing. Few other types of defects like the cluster defects also exist in ZnO that are
occurred by merging of more than one point defect. Such cluster defects can also be generated
when the point and extrinsic defects such as VO Zni cluster, and this cluster is formed due to
the merging of oxygen vacancy and zinc interstitial and it has been reported that it has a
positioned at 2.16 eV below the CB [39].
Finally some brief discussion about the extrinsic defects, because they also play an important
role for the emission properties of ZnO. It has been reported that the UV emissions in ZnO is
positioned at 3.35 eV due to the excitons bound to the extrinsic defects like Li and Na
accepters present in ZnO structures [18]. The emission due to incorporation of copper
15
impurities in ZnO is placed at 2.85 eV [65]. Similarly, after the doping of Li in ZnO thin film
a yellow emission was observed at positioned 2.2 eV below the CB [66-67] with the Li related
defects. There are some more extrinsic defects associated with Cu, Li, Fe, Mn, and OH which
are also responsible for luminescence from ZnO. It has been also reported that the defects
having different energies can also produce the same colour emission such as the combinations
of ZnO: Cu and ZnO: Co have different energies but they emit the same (green) colour [68].
At the end, defects related to hydrogen, because it has an interesting role in the emission from
ZnO. Although, defects related to hydrogen are not deep level and located at 0.03 to 0.05 eV
below the CB [69]. The emission spectra obtained from ZnO indicated that it has a great
potential to emit luminescence covering the whole visible region and it has a promising
future to be used as low power consumption white light emitting source.
2.4 Electrical properties of ZnO
To comprehend completely the electrical behaviour of ZnO nanostructures prior to utilize
them in fabrication of nanodevices/nanoelectronics is very important. Inherently, the undoped
ZnO nanostructures is n-type in nature and it has been reported in the literature that it is due to
the presence of native defects in its crystal structure like oxygen vacancies and zinc
interstitials [70]. The numerical values of the electron mobility in a ZnO nanostructures in an
undoped state are estimated 120 to 440 cm2 V/s at room temperature and arguable which also
depend on the fabrication methods [18]. It has also been reported that after doping of ZnO, the
highest carrier concentration for holes and electrons i.e. 1019 cm-3 and 1020 cm-3 respectively
were obtained [71]. However, these levels of p-conductivity were uncontrollable and not
reproducible. It has also been observed that after the doping, the carrier mobility has reduced
as compared to the undoped ZnO due to the carrier scattering mechanism which includes
ionized impurity, non-ionized impurity, polar optical-phonon and acoustic phonon scatterings
16
[18]. The mobility of electrons and holes were estimated 200 cm2 V/s and 5 to 50 cm2 V/s at
room temperature. Similarly, the effective mass of electron and holes were estimated to 0.24
m0 and 0.59 m0 respectively. Thus, holes have very less mobility as compared to the electrons
mobility due the large differences in their effective mass [72].We have demonstrated the
fabrication of ZnO nanostructures based p-n heterojunction LEDs [1]. The electrical
parameter such as current voltage (I-V) curves of these fabricated LEDs are shown in figure
2.4 All the LEDs exhibited good rectifying behaviour as expected. Reasonable p-n hetero-
junctions are achieved and the threshold voltages of these LEDs were around 4 V. It has been
observed that the ZnO nanotubes based LED exhibits higher current when comparing other
nanostructures based LEDs with same sets of operating conditions and it may be due to the
more oxygen sub-vacancies and large surface area of the nanotubes as compared to other
nanostructures.
Figure 2.3: A typical I-V characteristic for different ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN LEDs [1].
17
2.5 ZnO nanostructures based electrochemical sensors
The rapid advancements in development of a miniaturized nanodevices based on
semiconductor nanomaterials have attracted a significant interest among the researchers due
to the special physical properties of these materials at low dimensions [73-77]. Determination
of biological or biochemical/chemical processes is of utmost importance for medical,
environmental and biotechnological applications. However, converting the biological signal to
an easily processed electronic signal is challenging due to the complexity of connecting an
electronic device directly to a biological environment. Electrochemical biosensors provide an
attractive means to analyze the content of a biological sample due to the direct conversion of a
biological event to an electric signal. Over the past decades, several sensing concepts and
related devices have been developed. The area of biosensors started to be active with the
introduction of the first generation of glucose oxidase (GOD) biosensors in 1962 [78]. This
GOD sensor concept is still the most widely used, although many improvements (generations)
have been added since 1960’s [79].
Recently, electrochemical sensing based on various nanomaterials with a wide variety of low
dimensional nanostructures has attracted considerable attentions due to their special physical
properties. Among these materials, ZnO has attracted great interests in the applications of
sensors/transducers because it has a wide variety of nanostructures such as
nanowires/nanorods, nanotubes, nanoporous/nanoflakes and etc., and their remarkable
properties such as large surface-to-volume ratio, biosafety, bio-compatibility, nontoxicity,
high-electron transfer rates, enhanced analytical performance, increased sensitivity, easy
fabrication, and low cost. In addition, a high isoelectric point of ZnO (IEP 9.5) provides
convenient micro-environment to form a good matrix with low isoelectric point acidic
proteins or DNA for immobilization by electrostatic interactions with high binding stability
[80-86]. Moreover, ZnO possess high ionic bonding (60%), and its dissolution is slow at
18
biological pH values. Moreover, Z. Li et al. [87] reported that ZnO nanorods are bio-
compatible and bio-safe when they are used in biological environment at normal
concentration range. In addition, ZnO is relatively stable around biological pH-values which
make ZnO compatible with biological fluids and species [88] which also makes it attractive in
vivo environment. Currently, we have successfully demonstrated that ZnO
nanorods/nanowires can be used to measure the intracellular glucose and K+ concentrations
using micro injection technique in human adipocytes and frog oocytes [89, 4]. The main effort
has been focused to fabricate the ZnO nanorods/nanowires selectively on the borosilicate
glass capillary tips (0.7 µm outer diameters), suitable and capable to gently penetrating the
cell membrane and immobilized with glucose oxidase (GOD) and coating of ionophore
(Valinomycin) for the selective determination of glucose and K+ ions concentrations
respectively. Thus, the ZnO nanostructures are suitable for extra and intracellular sensing
applications.
19
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25
CHAPTER 3
Fabrication of ZnO nanostructures and device processing Currently, the on-going miniaturization of electronic devices/circuits led to an emerging
interest in nano-scaled materials. In addition, inorganic structures confined in several
dimensions within the nanometre range, exhibit peculiar and unique properties superior to
their bulk counterparts. In recent years, various semiconducting nanomaterials like quantum
dots (0-dimensional) and one-dimensional (1D) structures, like nanowires, nanobelts,
nanotubes and nanowalls etc., have attained enormous attention. Among the huge variety of
1D nanostructure, semiconducting nanowires have gained particular interest due to their
potential applications in optoelectronic, sensing and electronic devices. Among these
materials, ZnO has a richest family of nanostructures including the carbon nanotubes [1].
There are several techniques to synthesize and fabricate the ZnO nanostructures on different
substrates including aqueous chemical growth (ACG) method [2], vapor-liquid-solid (VLS)
method [3-10], metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) [11] and
electrodeposition (ED) [12,13] etc. In the present research work, ZnO nanostructures were
synthesized using low cost and low temperature aqueous chemical growth method on silver
wires (250 µm in diameter), gold coated plastic substrate and p-type GaN. The fabrication of
ZnO nanowires/nanorods, nanotubes and nanowalls based devices on different substrates
followed several steps such as described below;
3.1 Substrate preparation
ZnO nanowires/ nanorods, nanotubes, and nanowalls used in the present work were grown on
silver, gold, and p-type GaN substrates. Before the fabrication of the ZnO nanostructures, the
substrates were cleaned properly for the purpose of eliminating unwanted dirty particles and
chemicals on the surface of substrates.
26
3.1.1 Substrate cleaning
Pre-cleaning treatment of substrates is very crucial for fabricating the high quality and
vertically aligned nanowires/nanorods, nanotubes and nanowalls because the unwanted
chemicals, unwanted particles on the surface of the substrates and oxide layers from the
surface can generate the instability and unpredictability in the development processing.
Generally, the cleaning process begins with the steps like; first the substrates were immersed
in the solution prepared in de-ionized water (DI-H2O) with hydrofluoric acid (HF) in a
proportion of nine: one (9:1) for three minutes in order to remove the native oxide layers from
the surface of the substrates(especially in case of Si substrate). Then in second step, we
immersed the substrates in the acetone for sonication bath for 5 minutes at 40 oC and this
sonication process was repeated in isopropanol and ethanol as well. During the sonication
process, the substrates were cleaned with de-ionized. After the sonication, the substrates were
cleaned properly and dried with nitrogen.
In the present work we followed the ACG method, first we make sure to remove the possible
organic contaminants gathered in oxide layer by using etching method in diluted hydrofluoric
acid (HF) if we choose to grown ZnO nanostructures on Si substrate. Then the organic
contaminations on the substrates are removed by sonication of the substrates in the solution of
acetone at 40 °C for 5 minutes and then in isopropanol at 40 °C for 5 minutes. Between the
sonication processes the substrates are cleaned with DI water. Thereafter, the substrates are
ready for the ACG growth.
Figure 3.1: Schematic diagram showing the different steps of the device (LED) fabrication.
27
3.1.2 Fabrication of ZnO nanostructures
ZnO nanowires and nanorods
The aqueous chemical growth (ACG) method is the low temperature (<100 oC), simplest and
cost effective for the fabrication of ZnO nanowires and nanorods as described by Vayssieres
et al [2]. In this technique, an equimolar concentration (0.025-0.01 M) of hexa-methylene-
tetramine (HMT, C6H12N4) with zinc nitrate (Zn (NO3)2.6H2O) was mixed in a deionized
water for fabrication of ZnO nanowires and nanorods. Before the substrates were placed into
the solution, a small part of the gold coated plastic was covered in order to use it as a contact
pad for electrochemical measurements and then a nucleation layer was generated on the plane
substrates by spin coating technique for the purpose of improving the alignment and
orientation of ZnO nanowires and nanorods (for p-type GaN and gold coated plastic). This
nucleation layer is prepared by the procedure describe in Ref. [14]. This seed layer results in
excellent alignment and orientation of ZnO nanorods as shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2: SEM image of ZnO nanorods fabricated on p-type GaN substrate using low temperature aqueous chemical growth technique.
The substrates were annealed at 250 °C (for GaN) and 100 oC (for gold coated plastic)
respectively to solidify the seed layer. Where as in case of silver wires probes, we dipped the
28
wires in the seed solution for two minutes and dried for one minutes at room temperature and
this process was repeated twice. After seeding, the substrates were put inside solution and was
heated up to 90 °C for 3 to 7 h. After the completion of fabrication process, the fabricated
devices were cleaned with deionized-water and dried with nitrogen. The fabrication of the
ZnO nanowires/nanorods proceeds through the following chemical reactions described in
[15]. At first the HMT reacts with water and produces ammonia as described by chemical
equation:
(CH2)6 N4 + 6H2O 6HCHO + 4NH3
As a result of above reaction, the ammonium and hydroxide ions were produced as describes
by the reaction given below:
NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OH-
The produced hydroxide ions react with zinc ions to grow solid ZnO nanowires/nanorods on
the substrate as described by the reaction:
2OH- + Zn+2 ZnO (s) + H2O
The ZnO nanowires/nanorods fabricated by the above technique were highly dense and
vertically align with respect to surface of a substrate. In order to obtain the different
diameters, length and density of the fabricated nanowires/nanorods, we need to control and
optimize the growth parameter such as molar concentration of the HMT and the zinc nitrate,
temperature, and time. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the obtained ZnO
nanowires/nanorods with different density, diameters and length by changing some growth
parameters are shown in figure 3.3 (a-d).
29
Figure 3.3 (a-d): SEM images for ZnO nanorods/nanowires fabricated under different growth parameters.
Fabrication of ZnO nanotubes
ZnO nanotubes were fabricated by etching the ZnO nanorods along the c-axis direction. After
the fabrication of ZnO nanorods, the sample was dipped into the solution of KCl with a
concentration in the range from 2 M to 7 M for time periods ranging from 3 to 18 h. During
the process, the temperature of the solution was kept constant at 90 °C. The etching
mechanism is that Cl- ions in the solution preferentially adsorbed onto the top of the ZnO
nanorods to decrease the positive charge density of the (0001) ZnO surface, therefore, makes
the (0001) ZnO surface less stable to easily etch through c-axis while chloride adsorption onto
lateral walls seems to be less probable because the surface (101 0) faces appear to be the most
stable ZnO surface [16]. Typical SEM images of ZnO nanotubes are shown in Figure 3.4.
30
Figure 3.4: SEM image of ZnO nanotubes fabricated on the p-type GaN substrate.
Fabrication of ZnO nanowalls
To fabricate the ZnO nanowalls structure onto the surface of p-type GaN substrate. First we
cleaned the substrates then the substrates were affixed inside the vacuum chamber of
evaporator (Satis CR 725). Then a thin film of aluminium with a thickness of 10 nm was
uniformly evaporated. Second, the seed solution was spun coated three times with a speed of
2000 rpm and the spinning time was kept 45 s for each turn and after completing the step
second, the substrate was annealed at ~ 220 °C for 15 minutes. Finally, the substrate was
inserted in the nutrient solution which contained equimolar concentration (0.03 M) of zinc
nitride hexa-hydrate [(Zn (NO3)2.6H2O)] and hexa methylene tetramine (HMT) [(C6H12N4)].
The substrates were placed in the growth solution using Teflon sample holder upside down to
the bottom at 90 °C for 2-5 hours. During the fabrication process, hydroxide zinc acetate
(LHZA) layered has formed i.e., Zn5 (OH)8(CH3COO)2.2H2O, as a self-template and then
31
after that the LHZA films were transformed into nano-crystalline ZnO nanowalls without
morphological deformation by heating at 150 °C in air [17-18]. The SEM image of the
fabricated ZnO nanowalls is shown in figure 3.5. The thickness of the walls was estimated
from the SEM images and it was found to be around 50 nm.
Figure 3.5: SEM image of ZnO nanowalls on p-type GaN substrate.
Growth of ZnO nanoflowers
In order to fabricate ZnO nanoflowers on p-type GaN substrates, ammonium solution
(NH4OH) was used to control the pH of the growth solution. The pH of the solution to
fabricate the nanoflowers was kept at around 10.5. The substrate is placed in the solution with
the sample surface upside down to the bottom of the solution container, and heated at 90 ºC
32
for 3-6 hours [19]. Figure 3.6 shows the SEM image of the fabricated ZnO nanoflowers. The
length of the leaves of the flowers is ~ 2.2 μm and the diameter is about 200 nm.
Figure 3.6: SEM image of ZnO nanoflowers fabricated on p-type GaN substrate.
Fabrication of ZnO nanorods by sol-gel method
ZnO nanorods/nanowires can also be fabricated by sol-gel method at low temperature (<100
oC) [20]. In this method, first a sol-gel seed layers solution was made by mixing zinc acetate
(Zn (CH3COO)2. 2H2O; 0.7 M) solution in the mixture solution of 2-methoxyethanol and
mono-ethanolamine (MEA) with a molar ratio of (1:1). Then the resultant solution was stirred
at 60 oC for 30 minutes to yield a clear and homogeneous solution. Sol-gel solution was spun
coated on the surface of the substrate with a spin speed of 3000 rpm for one minute. This
process was repeated three times. The samples were then annealed at ≤ 500 oC in air for 1 h
[21]. After the annealing, the substrate was put in zinc nitrate (Zn (NO3)2.6H2O) and hexa-
methylene-tetramine (HMT, C6H12N4) solution prepared with equimolar concentration for 4-8
33
hrs. The SEM image of resulting ZnO nanowires grown through sol gel route is shown in
figure 3.7.
Figure 3.7: SEM image of ZnO nanowires fabricated through sol gel method on p-type GaN substrate.
3.2 Bottom contacts deposition
The efficiency and durability of the light emitting diodes based on ZnO nanostructures rely on
the evolution of metallization schemes with low specific contact resistance. The electro-
optical, electrical characteristics and life time of the prepared devices depend on the contact
resistance between the semiconductor and metal. If this contact resistance is high then it will
affect the efficiency of the devices [22]. Basically, the main objectives for these ohmic
contacts are to assist to inject and exit the current into the devices and should ideally have
symmetric and linear I-V relation. In the present work, we have chosen the combination of
Pt/Ni/Au alloy with thickness of Pt, Ni, and Au layers of 20 nm, 30 nm, and 80 nm,
34
respectively to make the bottom contacts. This chosen alloy possesses a specific contact
resistance of ~ 5.1×10-4 Ω-cm-2 [23]. The sample was annealed at 350 ºC for 1 min in a
flowing nitrogen (N2/Ar) gas atmosphere. Several combinations of different alloys for ohmic
contacts for the p-GaN are listed in table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Different alloys combination (metallization) for the ohmic contacts for p-type
GaN.
Combination of
alloys
(metallization)
Annealing
temperature
Lowest ρc (Ω-cm-2)
Ref
Pd/Au 500 oC 4.3×10-4 20
Pt/Au 750 oC 1.5×10-3 21
Ni/Pd/Au 550 oC 4.5×10-6 22
Ni/Au 750 oC 3.3×10-2 21
Pd/Pt/Au 600 oC 5.5×10-4 23
Pt/Ni/Au 350 oC 5.1×10-4 24
Pd/Ni/Au 450 oC 5.1×10-4 25
Ni/Au 500 oC (annealed under partial O2 ambient to
form NiO)
1.0×10-4 26
3.3 Photoresist and plasma etching (RIE)
A photoresist was spun coated in order to isolate and fill the gap between the fabricated ZnO
nanorods on the p-type substrates. This process also eliminates the carrier cross talk between
the fabricated nanostructures like nanorods or nanotubes etc. After the spun coting of
photoresist, the tips of the nanorods were etched using oxygen plasma ion etching or reactive
ion etching (RIE).
35
3.4 Top contacts deposition
In order to deposit the top contacts on etched ZnO nanorods tips, we have chosen the
combination of non-alloyed Pt/Al metals to make the top ohmic contacts to the ZnO
nanostructures. The thickness of the chosen metals i.e. Pt and the Al layers were evaporated
as 50 nm and 60 nm, respectively. This contact resistance of the chosen contact was estimated
~ 1.2×10-5 Ω-cm-2 [24]. There are different ohmic contacts combinations were reported in the
literature for n-ZnO as enlisted in the table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Different ohmic contacts combination enlisted for n-type ZnO.
Combinations of
metal alloys
(metallization)
Annealing temperature
Lowest ρc (Ω- cm-2) Ref
Ti/Al/Pt/Au 200 oC 9×10-7 27, 28
Ti/Au 300 oC 2.0×10-4 29, 30
Ti/Au 600 oC 3.0×10-3 31
Ti/Au 500 oC 1.0×10-3 29, 30
Ti/Au None 4.3×10-5 32
Al/Pt None 2.0×10-6 33,34
Ti/Al/Pt/Au None 8.0×10-7 27, 28
Al None 4.0×10-4 33
Zn/Au 500 oC 2.36 ×10-5 34
In None 7 ×10-1 35
Re/Ti/Au 700 oC 1.7 ×10-7 36
Ru 700 oC 3.2 ×10-5 37
Pt-Ga None 3.1 ×10-4 38
36
References:
[1] Z. L. Wang, Materials Today 2004, 7, 26.
[2] L. Vayssieres, K. Keis, S. E. Lindquist, A. Hagfeldt, J. Phys. Chem. B 2001, 105, 3350.
[3] R. S. Wagner, and W. C. Ellis, Appl. Phys. Lett 1964, 4, 89.
[4] P. D. Yang, H. Yan, S. Mao, R. Russo, J. Johnson, R. Saykally, N. Morris, J. Pham, R. He,
and H. J. Choi, Adv. Funct. Mater 2002, 12, 323.
[5] X. D. Wang, C. J. Summers, and Z. L. Wang, Nano. Lett. 2004, 4, 423.
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J. Am. Chem. Soc 2005, 127, 7920.
[7] N. S. Ramgir, D. J. Late, A. B. Bhite, M. A. More, I. S. Mulla, D. S. Joag, and K.
Vijayamohanan, J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 18236.
[8] J. H. Song, X. D. Wang, E. Riedo, and Z. L. Wang, J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 9869.
[9] J. H. Park, and J. G. Park. Curr. Appl. Phys. 2006, 6, 1020.
[10] Q. X. Zhao, P. Klason, and M. Willander, Appl. Phys. A 2007, 88, 27.
[11] W. Lee, M. C. Jeong, and J. M. Myoung, Nanotechnology 2004, 15, 254.
[12] J. Cembrero et al., Thin Solid Films 2004, 198, 451.
[13] B. Mari, M. Mollar, A. Mechkour, B. Hartiti, M. Perales, J. Cembrero, Microelectron. J
2004, 35, 79.
[14] H. Womelsdorf, W. Hoheisel, G. Passing, DE-A 199 07 704 A 1, 2000.
[15] M. Wang, C. H. Ye, Y. Zhang, G. M. Hua, H. X. Wang, and M. G. Kong, J. Cryst.
Growth 2006, 291, 334.
[16] B. Meyer, and D. Marx, Phys. Rev. B 2003, 67, 035403.
[17] E. Hosono, S. Fujihara, T. Kimura, and H. Imai, J. Coll. Inter. Science, 2004, 272, 39.
[18] E. Hosono, S. Fujihara, and T. Kimura, J. Mater. Chem.2004, 14, 88.
[19] Y. J. Kim, J. Yoo, B. H. Kwon, Y. J. Hong, C. H. Lee, and G. C. Yi1, Nanotechnology,
2008, 19, 315202.
[20] K. Prabakar, and, H. Kim, Thin Solid Films. 2010, 518, 136.
[21] Y. S. Bae, D. C. Kim, C. H. Ahn, J. H. Kim, H. K. Choa, Surf. Interface Anal. 2010, 42,
978.
[22] M. E. Lin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 1994, 64, 1003.
[23] J. S. Jang, I. S. Chang, H. K. Kim, T. Y. Seong, S. Lee, and S. Park, J. Appl. Phys. Lett.
1999, 74, 70.
[24] H. K. Kim, K. K. Kim, S. J. Park, T. Y. Seong, I. Adesida, J. Appl. Phys.2003, 94, 4225.
37
CHAPTER 4
Experimental and characterization techniques
After the successful fabrication of desired ZnO nanostructures based devices on silver wires,
gold coated plastic and p-type GaN substrates, different experimental and characterization
techniques were applied to investigate the electrochemical sensing response (EMF),
morphological, structural, optical, electrical and electro-optical properties of different
nanodevices presented as an electrochemical sensors and light emitting diodes (LEDs). We
have used the following characterization and experimental techniques:
(1) Scanning electron miscropy (SEM)
(2) Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
(3) X-ray diffraction (XRD)
(4) Photoluminescence (PL)
(5) Electroluminescence (EL)
(6) Electrical (current voltage I-V) characterization
4.1 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDX)
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a highly important tool for the investigation of the
surface morphology of nanostructures. By employing it we can investigate the diameter,
length, thickness, density, shape and orientation of the nanostructures. The equipment named
JEOL JSM-6301F and LEO 1550 scanning electron microscopes respectively were utilized in
this research work. The maximum resolution of the SEM was up to 10 nm. Figure 3.2 and
figure 3.4 showed the SEM images of ZnO nanostructures fabricated on p-GaN substrate by
ACG methods. This can be clearly seen from these SEM images that fabricated ZnO nanorods
and nanotubes were well aligned, hexagonal and vertical with high density. The fabricated
nanorods and nanotubes uniformly spread all over the substrate. This can be seen from the
SEM images that the diameters of our as fabricated ZnO nanorods and nanotubes were around
150-250 nm and the length of the both were around 1.2 μm. The SEM (LEO 1550) also has
38
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) that analyzes the chemical composition of
object nanostructures. Figure 4.1 shows a typical EDX spectrum of ZnO nanowires on gold
coated plastic substrate, which indicates that the as-grown samples are indeed ZnO.
Figure 4.1: EDX spectrum of ZnO nanowires on a gold coated plastic substrate.
4.2 Atomic force microscope
Atomic force microscope (AFM) is a high resolution scanning probe microscopy. This tool is
very important to investigate the surface profiles of materials in three dimensions (3D) at
nanoscale and can also be utilize for manipulating the atoms. Moreover, AFM can also be
used to measure the force at nano-newton scale [1-2]. In comparison to SEM, AFM is
superior in many aspects, like it provides 3D visualization of the material images, in AFM the
substrate/samples do not need any specific preparation to improve the conductivity of the
surface as it is required for the SEM. Thus, it is helpful to study the biological surfaces.
Figure 4.2 is showing the AFM image 10 μm × 10 μm of ZnO nanowalls fabricated on p-
GaN.
39
Figure 4.2: AFM (10 µm x10 µm) image of ZnO nanowalls fabricated on p-type GaN
substrate.
4.3 X-ray diffraction
The distance between the atoms in a solids has been estimated around one angstrom (Å) and
the energy corresponds to this distance can be estimated by the formula given below;
E= hc / λ for λ= 1 Å E ≈ 12 × 103 eV
Generally, we applied the X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterization technique for
semiconductor materials in order to determine the material quality, composition, lattice
parameters, orientation, defects, stress and strain. X-rays have approximately same energy (K
eV) as the interatomic distance energies of solids. In 1913 W.H and W.L. Bragg demonstrated
that the X-rays have the characteristics patterns after reflection from crystalline materials and
these patterns were different from those that were obtained from liquids. After this successful
demonstration, X-ray diffraction patterns became an important tool for the material science
research. Figure 4.3 showing a schematic diagram of Bragg reflection from crystalline planes
40
having inter-plane distance d. The incident and reflected X-rays from the two planes are also
shown. Bragg concluded that the path difference between the two X-rays diffracted from two
consecutive lattice planes is 2dsinθ and it leads to Bragg’s law, which states that the condition
for diffraction of X-rays for a crystalline material is:
nλ = 2d sinθ
Here θ is the angle of incidence and λ is the wavelength of the X-rays, n is an integer and it is
the order of reflection, and d is the distance between the lattice planes.
Figure 4.3: Shows a schematic diagram of Bragg reflection from crystalline lattice planes having interplan distance “d” between two lattice planes.
Figure 4.4 (a-d) showing the XRD patterns obtained from different ZnO nanostructures. This
XRD pattern have a strong (002) peaks and weak (004) peaks. The (002) peak has a strong
and sharp intensity and narrower spectral width as compared to the other peaks obtained in the
XRD pattern. This indicates that the grown ZnO nanostructures have a high quality wurtzite
hexagonal ZnO phase [3-4].
41
Figure 4.4: Display the Ө-2Ө XRD spectra of ZnO (a) nanowalls, (b) nanorods, (c) nanoflowers, and (d) nanotubes grown on p-GaN substrates, respectively.
4.4 Electrochemical measurements using ZnO nanostructure based sensors
Electrochemical measurements were carried out using a two-electrode configuration
consisting of ZnO nanowires/nanorods as the working electrode and an Ag/AgCl as a
reference electrode. The electrochemical responses were measured using a Metrohm pH meter
model 826 (Metrohm Ltd, Switzerland) at room temperature (23 2 °C). The electrochemical
response was observed until the equilibrium potential has reached and stabilized, then the
42
electrochemical potential was measured. Figure 4.5 shows the schematic diagram of extra
cellular measuring set up.
Figure 4.5: Schematic diagram of potentiometric measuring setup.
For the intracellular glucose measurements, we have applied the microinjection technique to
insert the prepared sensor inside the cells. To perform these experiments, we have fabricated
the ZnO nanowires based sensor on the tip borosilicate glass capillaries (sterile Femtotip II)
possess the inner diameter 0.5 μm, tip outer diameter of 0.7 μm suitable for the intracellular
measurements as a working electrode and another femtotip prepared as a reference
microelectrode. ZnO nanorods were selectively fabricated on the tip of capillaries using low
43
temperature ACG method. Figure 4.6 shows the schematic diagram of measuring set up for
the intracellular glucose sensing.
Figure 4.6: A schematic diagram illustrating the selective intracellular glucose sensor.
4.5 Photoluminescence
Photoluminescence (PL) is a non-destructive technique used for the determination of extrinsic
and intrinsic properties of the materials (semiconductors). In this technique the semiconductor
under investigation is excited using laser irradiation and then the PL spectrum of the
spontaneous emission from radiative recombinations in the material band gap was acquired.
During the PL process both radiative and non-radiative phenomena occurred but in the present
work we have focussed our studies for the radiative recombinations only. The PL
measurement technique has been widely utilized for the determination of the bandgap,
44
impurity levels, defects and recombination process in the semiconductor materials. Further
details are described in the reference [5]. In the present work, a diode laser irradiation with a
wavelength of 266 nm was pumped using resonant doubly unit (MBD 266) as an excitation
source. A schematic diagram illustrating the PL setup is shown in figure 4.7 given below.
Figure 4.7: Schematic diagram of photoluminescence (PL) setup.
The operation of PL measurement can be described in three steps.
(1) First, the materials whose optical properties are under investigation were optically
excited by laser to generate the electron-hole pairs. Different types of laser sources
such as He-Cd laser and Ar+ laser with wave lengths of 325 nm and 316 nm are
commonly utilized for the excitations in ZnO. The laser irradiation was directed
towards the specific target (sample) with the help of a setup as shown in the schematic
diagram.
(2) Second, after the excitation, the generated electron-hole pairs recombine radiatively
and emit light.
45
(3) Third, the emitted light is observed and disseminated by a double grating mono-
chromator and photomultiplier detectors. The final spectrum is collected and analyzed
in a computer.
4.6 Electroluminescence (EL)
The electroluminescence (EL) is a process in which optical devices were characterized with
electrical input and optical output. During this characterization, an electrical signal (current or
voltage) were applied to properly bias the pn junction who emits the light. The acquired
emitted spectrum is the result of electron-hole radiative recombinations process in the device.
The electroluminescence measurement is very crucial and has considered being a figure of
merit for the light emitting diodes (LEDs).
In the present work, we have performed the electroluminescence characterization at room
temperature of our prepared p-n heterojunction based LEDs for a possible future application
of ZnO nanostructures for white LEDs based lighting. There is a special detector known as
photomultiplier detector present in EL equipment was used to observe the emitted light from
the fabricated LEDs during the EL measurements. The acquired spectra were measured from
the top contacts of the LEDs by detecting the light escaping from the edge of the top contact
electrode.
4.7 Electrical (current voltage I-V) characterizations
Semiconductor parameter analyzer (SPA) is very important equipment utilized for the
measurement of electrical parameters such as current voltage (I-V) characterization of
electronic devices like transistors, light emitting diodes, schottky diode, logic gates, and etc.
In the present work, it has been utilized for the I-V measurements of the fabricated ZnO
nanostructures based LEDs. The I-V characterizations provide a useful data about the
fabricated devices (LEDs) like turn on voltages or the threshold voltage, forward bias and
reverse bias currents, different current regions, break-down voltage, ideality factor, and
46
parallel and series resistance of the fabricated LEDs. The I-V curves obtained during the
investigation are shown in Figure 2.4 (chapter 2) [3]. The curves exhibited a good rectifying
behaviour as we were expected from these LEDs. This can be seen from the figures that an
appropriate p-n heterojunctions were achieved. The turn on voltage of these fabricated
heterojunctions LEDs is around 4 V.
47
References [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_microscopy.
[2] http://www.chembio.uoguelph.ca/educmat/chm729/afm/introdn.htm.
[3] N. H. Alvi, S. M. Usman Ali, S. Hussain, O. Nur, and M. Willander, Scripta Materiala
2011, 64,697.
[4] L. B. Freund, and S. Suresh (Eds.), Thin Film Materials, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge (2003).
[5] G. D. Gilliland, Mater. Sci. Eng. 1997, R18, 99.
[6] Peter Klason, Zinc oxide bulk and nanorods, a study of optical and mechanical properties,
PhD thesis, University of Gothenburg., (2008).
[7] N. H. Alvi, K. ul Hasan, M. Willander, and O. Nur, (Accepted in Lighting Research and
Technology) DOI: 10.1177/1477153511398025.
48
CHAPTER 5 Results and discussions In this chapter I am presenting some results obtained during my research studies. These
results are divided into two parts.
In part one, results from papers I to V are included. We have successfully demonstrated the
fabrication and utilization of ZnO nanowires/nanorods based electrochemical nano-sensors for
the selectively determination of glucose (extra and intra cellular) and uric acid etc. In addition
to that we have successfully employed these developed sensors in extended gate MOSFET
configuration for the electrochemical detection of glucose and wireless monitoring of glucose
using existing GSM infrastructures.
In part second, we demonstrate the photonic applications of different ZnO nanostructures such
as nanorods, nanotubes, nanoflowers, and nanowalls fabricated using the ACG approach on p-
GaN substrate to form hetrostructure p-n junctions and the emission properties of these
photonic devices were comparatively studied.
5.1 Electrochemical nano-sensors After the successful and controlled synthesis of ZnO nanostructures such as
nanorods/nanowires on different substrates, they have been the target of numerous
investigations due to their unique properties. The diameters of these one dimensional
nanostructures are comparable to the size of the biological and chemical species being sensed,
which intuitively makes them excellent primary transducers for producing electrical signals.
5.1.1 Potentiometric electrochemical glucose sensor (Paper I) An electrochemical glucose sensor was fabricated using ZnO nanowires grown on thin silver
wire of 250 µm diameter. Enzyme glucose oxidase (GOD) was electrostatically immobilized
on the surface of the well aligned zinc oxide nanowires resulting in sensitive, selective, stable
49
and reproducible glucose biosensors. The experimental setup for the two electrodes
potentiometric measurements is shown in Fig. 4.5 (chapter 4). The changes in the
electrochemical response i.e., an electromotive force (EMF) can be observed when the
concentration of analyte in the test solution was varied by applying a calibration procedure.
The potentiometric response vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode was found to be linear over a
relatively wide logarithmic concentration range 0.5 µ to 10 mM [1].
The sensing mechanism of most electrochemical glucose sensors is based on an enzymatic
reaction catalyzed by glucose oxidase (GOD) according to the following:
----------- (1)
As a result of this reaction, δ-gluconolactone and hydrogen peroxide are produced. These two
products and the oxygen consumption can be used for the glucose determination. With H2O
availability in the reaction, gluconolactone is spontaneously converted to gluconic acid, which
at neutral pH, form the charged products of gluconate - and proton (H+), according to the
equation below:
-----------(2)
This proteolytic reaction of the δ-gluconolactone to gluconic acid shown in Eq. (2), which
results in a decrease of the medium pH, can be used for the determination of the glucose
concentration [2]. Concentration changes of ions surrounding the ZnO nanowires will change
the electrode potential [3]. The potentiometric response of the sensor electrodes were studied
in glucose solutions made in buffer (PBS pH 7.4) with concentration ranging from 0.5 µM to
10 mM. Avery fast response time was noted over the whole concentration range with 95% of
the steady state voltage achieved within 4 s for a sensor electrode in conjunction with a
Nafion® membrane Fig. 5.1(a). The tested sensor configuration showed large dynamic ranges
with an output response (EMF) that was linear vs. the logarithmic concentration of glucose
50
going from -10 mV for 0.5 µM and -154 mV for 10 mM glucose as shown in Fig. 5.1 (b).
(a)
(b)
Figure 5.1 (a): Calibration curve showing the time response of the sensor electrode in 50 µM glucose solution (b) Calibration curve showing electrochemical response (EMF) vs. logarithmic glucose concentrations using ZnO sensor electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode [1].
This corresponds to slope of around 35 mV/ decade. These obtained signals were reproducible
and strong enough to open a gate channel in a commercial MOSFET having low threshold
gate voltages. Moreover, these signals can be integrated in an electronic circuitry for remote
monitoring the patient’s diabetes level from remote locations and wireless sensor
configurations. The excellent performance in sensitivity, stability, selectivity, reproducibility
and freedom from interference was achieved when the sensor was exposed to glucose
51
solution. All these advantageous features can make the proposed biosensor applicable in
medical, food or other areas. Moreover, the fabrication method is simple and can be extended
to immobilize other enzymes and other bioactive molecules with small isoelectric points for a
variety of biosensor designs.
5.1.2 Zinc oxide nanowires as extended gate MOSFET for glucose detection (Paper II) In this study, we have demonstrated another technique for the selective determination of
glucose using the immobilized ZnO nanowires as an extended gate of a commercial MOSFET
with low threshold voltages. We report how instead of growing ZnO nanowires on the gate
area inside the transistor (e.g., on the AlGaN/GaN HEMT device), ZnO nanowires can be
integrated on the surface of an Ag wire (with a diameter of around 250 μm) as an extended
gate [4]. In this way, the chemically sensitive gate is then separated from the rest of the
transistor construction, and the sensing area increases significantly as compared to gate areas
of some published sensors based on transistors, e.g., HEMT [5]. Thereby, the biosensor
construction is much facilitated as the enzyme can be readily immobilized on the wire, and
applied in a variety of different probes or flow systems designs without problems arising
from, e.g., encapsulation of the electronics, etc. In addition, we report on the effect of the
uniformity and vertical orientation of ZnO nanowires on response time of the sensor.
We have coupled/interfaced the fabricated glucose sensor with a commercial MOSFET
having very low/zero threshold voltages in an extended gate configuration [6]. The extended-
gate MOSFET sensor approach demonstrates the possibility and potential of the use of
nanostructures coupled to standard electronic components for sensing applications. In order to
interface the output signal from the electrochemical measurement with a commercial
MOSFET, we selected the highly sensitive n-channel zero threshold (Vth = 0 V) ALD/110900
commercial n-MOSFET (Advanced Linear Devices, Sunnyvale, CA), which can operate in
52
precision zero threshold mode. This transistor was integrated with the extended-gate sensor
together with an Ag/AgCl electrode and connected to a Keithley 2602 unit, as schematically
shown in Fig. 5.2.
Figure 5.2: Schematic diagram illustrating the configuration used for glucose detection with MOSFET using extended-gate functionalized ZnO nanowires as working electrode and Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode [6].
In addition, a pH meter (Model 744, Metrohm) was used to measure the potentiometric
output voltage (EMF) of the different ZnO nanowires sensors presented here. Moreover, time
response measurements were also performed to study the stability. For the time response
measurements, a model 363 A potentiostat/galvanostat (EG and G, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID) was
used. The working electrode (ZnO nanowires) is negatively charged due to oxidation [see eqn.
(1) and (2)]. The gate voltage must be positive in order to invert carriers at the n-MOSFET
channel and observe the drain current modulations. The output voltage can be made positive
53
by interfacing instrumentation amplifier in an inverting mode with unity gain between the
sensor output and gate terminal of the MOSFET. If a p-channel MOSFET is used, then there
is no need for an instrumentation amplifier interfacing.
When the extended gate was immersed in 50 µM glucose solution, an induced voltage of
around 60 mV was added to the gate. As a result, a strong modulation of the drain current was
observed. In this case, when the extended-gate transistor was stable, 0.540 μA was added to
the drain current, as shown in Fig. 5.3 (a). This increment is due to the reaction between the
glucose and GOD/ZnO/Ag electrode leading to an electron transfer to the ZnO nanowires. It
is important to mention that on contrary to the non-stable behaviour of both the GOD/Ag and
bare Ag wire, the modulation observed here prevail for a long time with no observable signal
decay. The dependence of drain current (ID) on the glucose concentration is shown in figure
5.3 (b). As evident form figure 5.3 (b), the ID increased as the glucose concentration is
increased, as expected. It is also clear that the dependence of the ID on the glucose
concentration is showing a linear relationship.
In summary, the extended-gate MOSFET sensor concept presented here is robust, and opens
the possibility of externally integrating nano-sensing element to commercial transistors giving
the advantages of simplicity and low cost. In addition, the extended gate makes it easier and
more practical to sense elements when the available sample volume is relatively small. This
simple method of fabricating ZnO/GOD sensor can also be extended to immobilize other
enzymes and other bioactive molecules on various nanostructures, and form versatile
electrodes for sensing applications/studies.
54
Figure 5.3 (a): Typical drain current (ID ) versus gate voltage (VG) for the extended-gate MOSFET, the upper curve (line) is for 50 μM glucose solution while the lower curve (dotted line) is for the case of 100 μM of glucose concentration. (b) Relation between the drain current and glucose concentration for a range of 1–100 μM glucose concentration [6].
5.1.3 An intracellular glucose sensor using the functionalised ZnO nanorods (Paper III)
Based on all the advantageous features observed during the extracellular investigations, we
implied this proposed sensor for intracellular configuration for the determination of glucose
using micro-injection technique.
55
To prepare the sensor suitable for an intracellular glucose measurement, we have evaporated a
silver thin film onto the tip of borosilicate glass capillary, then a ZnO nanorods were
fabricated on the capillary tip using ACG method as shown in figure 5.4 (a-c), whose outer
diameter was 0.7 µm and immobilized them with the enzyme glucose oxidase by employing
simple physical adsorption method.
Figure 5.4: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the ZnO nanorods fabricated on Ag-coated glass capillaries using ACG method :( a and b) before enzyme immobilisation and (c) after enzyme immobilisation [7].
The functionalized glucose oxidase retained its enzymatic activity due to excellent
electrostatic interaction between ZnO and glucose oxidase. This prepared nano-electrode
device was successfully applied using micro-injection techniques to selectively determine the
glucose concentrations in human adipocytes and frog oocytes [7]. In the human body, the
hormone insulin only stimulates glucose transport into the muscle and the fat cells. However,
56
it has been observed that the insulin affect the glucose uptake in human adipocyte and oocytes
from frog Xenopus laevis [8, 9]. We have demonstrated a glucose transport system that is
markedly activated by insulin in both cells [10]. The extra cellular response of the
electrochemical potential difference of the ZnO nanorods to the changes in buffer electrolyte
glucose was measured for the range of 500 nM to 1 mM and shows that this glucose
dependence is linear and has sensitivity equal to 40.27 mV/ decade at around 23 oC as shown
in figure 5.5.
Figure 5.5: A calibration curve showing the electrochemical potential difference versus the glucose concentration (0.5–1 mM) using functionalised ZnO-nanorod-coated probe as a working electrode and an Ag/AgCl microelectrode reference microelectrode [7].
To start intracellular measurements, first we used the nanosensor to measure the free
concentration of intracellular glucose in a single human adipocyte and frog oocytes by the
procedure described in [7]. The intracellular glucose concentration was estimated to be 50±15
µM for (n = 5). The obtained results were in good agreement as compared with the 70 µM
intracellular concentration determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in rat
muscle tissue in the presence of a high, 10 mM extracellular glucose concentration as reported
57
[19]. In order to investigate the impact of insulin, we added insulin to the cell medium to
stimulate glucose uptake. Insulin stimulates glucose uptake by binding to its receptor at the
cell surface, which initiates intracellular signal transduction, causing translocation of insulin
sensitive glucose transporters (GLUT4, glucose transporter-4). After integration in the plasma
membrane, GLUT4 allows glucose to enter the cell along a concentration gradient, as shown
in Fig. 5.6 (a). Thus, when we achieved a stable potential for intracellular measurement, 10
nM insulin was added to the cell medium. After several minutes insulin increased the glucose
concentration in the cell from 50±15 µM to 125±15 µM as shown in Fig. 5.6 (b). In another
set of experiments, we have applied the nanosensor to measure intracellular glucose
concentration in single frog oocytes. The intracellular glucose concentration was 125±23 µM
for (n = 5). This is slightly higher than what has been reported earlier i.e. < 50 µM [11]. We
do not know the reason for this difference, but one possibility is that the electrodes behave
slightly differently inside the oocyte than outside, where they were calibrated. However, to
test whether the electrode is measuring the glucose concentration inside the oocytes, we added
10 nM of insulin to the cell medium to stimulate glucose uptake. Indeed, the glucose
concentration in the frog oocytes increased from 125±23 to 250±19 µM. The proposed
intracellular biosensor showed a fast response time less than 1 s and has quite a wide linear
range from 0.5 to 1 mM suitable for the intracellular measurements. The performance
regarding sensitivity, selectivity, and freedom from interference when the sensor was exposed
to intra- and extracellular glucose measurements were quite acceptable. These results
demonstrate the capability to perform biologically relevant measurements of glucose within
living cells. The ZnO-nanorod glucose electrode thus holds promise for minimally invasive
dynamic analyses of single cells.
58
(a)
(b)
Figure 5.6: (a) Intracellular mechanism for insulin-induced activation of glucose uptake. (b) Output response (EMF) with respect to time for intracellularly positioned electrodes when insulin is applied to the extracellular solution [7].
5.1.4 Wireless remote glucose monitoring system (paper IV) In this paper, we have presented another application of ZnO nanowires based glucose sensor.
We have applied our fabricated glucose sensor for remotely monitoring the glucose levels
from remote locations using existing GSM/GPRS mobile communication infra structures
[12]. As the GSM/GPRS infrastructures have proven to be reliable and cost effective, the
59
services provided by these systems are inevitably used for data acquisition and monitoring
applications. Thus, we have chosen this system in our present work due to its wide area
coverage and can reach to doctor/caregiver at any time.
Figure 5.7: The proposed system block diagram of wireless remote monitoring system for the functionalized ZnO nanowire arrays based glucose sensor [12].
Figure 5.7 showing the proposed system block diagram of wireless remote monitoring system
for the ZnO nanowires based glucose sensor. The electrical signals generated by our glucose
sensor are stable and strong enough with ranging from 10 mV to hundreds of mV with
varying glucose concentrations as shown in figure 5.8 (a-b). These signals were firstly
collected by electrodes, then pass through amplifier and filters to get rid of noises using
flexible shielded cables. After that the signals are connected to the input port of built-in ADC
60
of the PIC18F452 microcontroller. The input signal from the sensor is first interfaced to an
instrumentation amplifier using flexible coaxial cables whose gain was adjusted to an
appropriate level accordingly and then this signal amplified by instrumentation amplifier (IA).
The output from the amplifier is then fed to the input of the ADC built in with microcontroller
which converts this signal to corresponding digital signals readable by the microcontroller.
Software in the controller, which is written in C language, then reads the signal and compares
it to a lookup table. This algorithm has the key responsibility to read the sugar level in terms
of input electrical signal and from the lookup table convert it into corresponding molar
concentrations. After conversion it generates instruction set for the GSM mobile device
connected with RS 323 serial data cable to the circuit board shown in figure 5.9. This
instruction set when passed to the mobile using the serial port sends sugar levels as SMS
messages to the physician mobile and medical data storage system for immediate consultation
and medications. SMS message typically take 10 to 30 seconds to deliver but depending upon
the network load, it may take longer than 30 seconds. In this study the developed
communication protocol [13] is used for the monitoring of sugar levels. The system detected
the sugar levels in modelled glucose solutions and sent an SMS messages as designed. During
the test, SMS delay was found to be varying between 8 to 30 seconds. The system is also
tested in manual simulation mode and similar results were obtained.
61
Figure 5.8: (a) Calibration curve of the sensor electrode showing the stable and smooth signal in 50 µM glucose solution (b) inset curve showing the time response of the sensor [12].
Figure 5.9: The proposed system circuit diagram of the designed prototype circuit board [12]
62
5.1.5 Selective determination of uric acid (Paper V) In this paper, we have also successfully demonstrated the selective determination of uric acid
using the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires fabricated on a gold coated flexible plastic substrate
[14]. For the selective determination of uric acid, enzyme uricase was chosen and
immobilized on the surface of ZnO nanowires, drawing on the fact that there is a large
difference between the isoelectric points of ZnO and uricase. The isoelectric point of ZnO is
9.5, making it a suitable to immobilize a low isoelectric proteins or enzymes such as uricase
(~ 4.6) by electrostatic adsorption in proper buffer solutions.
The electrochemical measurements has been carried out by utilizing two electrodes system
and the resultant slope is drawn from calibrated values of electrochemical response (EMF) vs.
the logarithmic concentrations of uric acid solution ranging from 1 µ to 1000 µM as shown in
figure 5.10.
Figure 5.10: Calibration curves for the uric acids sensor with membrane [14].
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The sensing mechanism of most electrochemical uric acid sensors is based on an enzymatic
reaction catalyzed by Uricase according to the following:
Uric acid has oxidized in the presence of Uricase into Allantoin along with carbon dioxide
and hydrogen peroxide. Due to the presence of H2O, the Allantoin is accepting proton from
H2O and converted to Allantoinium ion, which in results interact with ZnO nanowires and
producing a potential at the electrode. The potentiometric response of the sensor electrodes
were studied in uric acid solutions made in buffer (PBS pH 7.4) with concentration ranging
from 1 µM to 1000 µM. A very fast response time was noted over the whole concentration
range with 95 % of the steady state voltage achieved within 6.25 s as shown in figure 5.11 (a)
for a sensor electrode without membrane and within 9 s for a sensor electrode with membrane
figure 5.11 (b).
Figure 5.11: (a) Time response of the sensor in 100 µM test solution of uric acid without membrane coating [14].
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Figure 5.11: (b) Time response of the sensor in 100 µM test solution of uric acid with membrane coating [14].
The linearity, stability, and reproducibility of the uric acid sensor have been evaluated by
performing three repeated experiments by utilizing a same sensor electrode. The results of
these experiments reveal good consistency in the calibration traces as shown in Fig 5.12 (a).
The reproducibility and long term stability was evaluated by using 5 different uric acid sensor
electrodes constructed independently under same conditions; the relative standard deviation of
the fabricated sensor electrodes in standard uric acid solutions was less than 7 %. The sensor
to sensor reproducibility in 100 µM uric acid solution has shown in Fig.5.12 (b).
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(a)
Figure 5.12: (a) Calibration curves from three different experiments using the same sensor electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode [14].
(b)
Figure 5.12: (b) The sensor to sensor reproducibility of five (n = 5) ZnO nanowires/uricase/ Nafion® electrodes in100 µM test solution of uric acid [14].
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5.2 Emission properties of nanostructures based photonic devices (Paper VI) The second part of this thesis, we have fabricated the photonic devices based on different
ZnO nanostructures on p-type GaN substrates to form the hetrostructure pn junctions and the
emission properties of these hetrostructure based photonic devices (LEDs) were
comparatively studied.
In Paper VI, the emission properties of different ZnO nanostructures fabricated on the p-type
GaN substrates were studied [15]. The core objective of the current study was to investigate
the difference in emission properties of the different ZnO nanostructures fabricated on p-type
GaN substrates and point out which ZnO nanostructure possess the excellent emission
properties and to be utilize an integral part of future ZnO based white light emitting diodes
(LEDs). To fabricate the all four types of ZnO nanostructures on to the p-type GaN substrates,
we followed the aqueous chemical growth (ACG) technique. The electrical, optical and
emission characteristics of these different nanostructures were extensively studied and
compared.
The PL spectra from the ZnO nanowalls fabricated on p-type GaN substrate has shown in
5.13 (a). This can be seen from the figure that the PL emission peaks are located at places
around at 361 nm (3.43 eV), 378 nm (3.29 eV), and 490 nm (2.53 eV) respectively. The peak
at 378 nm (3.29 eV) related to the band-edge emission (BEE) which indicated that the as
fabricated ZnO nanowalls have good crystalline quality [2]. The peak located at 490 nm (2.53
eV) related to the deep level emission (DLE) and this can be attributed to oxygen vacancies
(Vo) related defects [5]. Similarly, the PL spectra from other three different ZnO
nanostructures have shown in figure 5.13 (b-d). The PL intensity peaks approximately located
at 376 nm (3.29 eV) and a broad peak (covering the visible region from 400 nm to 750 nm)
were observed in all three types of nanostructures. During the investigation, it has been also
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observed that the emission peak located at 361 nm (3.43 eV) in the nanowalls structures can
be attributed to the band edge emissions in p-GaN substrate and this emission peak indicated
that the commercially purchased p-GaN substrates possess a high optical quality.
Figure 5.13: (a-e) Showing the room temperature PL spectrum for ZnO nanostructures (a) nanowalls, (b) nanorods, (c) nanoflowers, and (d) nanotubes on p-GaN and (e) showed the combined PL spectra of all the four nanostructures [15].
In order to see the highest intensity from all these different ZnO nanostructures, we have
merged all obtained PL spectra from these fabricated nanostructures as shown in figure 5.13
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(e). This can be noticed that between all fabricated ZnO nanostructures, ZnO nanorods have
the highest excitonic band edge PL emissions at 376 nm (3.29 eV), which indicates that ZnO
nanorods have the best crystal quality as compared to all other nanostructures. While in the
visible region, the ZnO nanowalls structures possess the higher PL intensity as compared to
other three ZnO nanostructures. This shows that the nanowalls structure possess more deep
level defects density as compared to the other three nanostructures.
The EL spectra for the fabricated LEDs based on the four different types of nanostructures
were acquired at room temperature as shown in figure 5.14 (a-d). During the EL
measurements, the LEDs were under forward biasing of 25 V with injection current of 4 mA.
The EL spectra of the n-ZnO nanowalls/p-type GaN based LEDs possess the violet, a violet-
blue and a broad EL peaks covering the whole visible region from 480 nm to 700 nm as
shown in figure 5.14 (a). The EL peaks were approximately located at 420 nm (2.95 eV), 450
nm (2.75 eV) and a broad peak covering EL emissions from 480 nm to 700 nm. The broad
peak includes the green, yellow, orange and red emissions. The EL spectrum for n-ZnO
nanoflowers/p-GaN LED was also acquired which possess the violet, violet-blue and the
broad peaks as shown in figure 5.14 (b). These observed peaks were located approximately at
400 nm (3.09 eV), 450 nm (2.75 eV) and a broad peak covering the EL emission from 480 nm
to 700 nm. Similarly, the EL spectra for the LEDs based on n-ZnO nanorods and nanotubes
were acquired respectively as shown in figure 5.14 (c-d) [4]. Both LEDs have the same
spectra because the ZnO nanotubes were achieved from ZnO nanorods by chemical etching.
There is only difference of the charge injection surface area and the ZnO nanotubes have
more surface area as compared to the ZnO nanorods. The electrons can also be injected from
the inner side of the hallow nanotube and this increases the emission intensity. A violet, a
violet-blue and a green EL peaks were observed in both LEDs and these peaks were located
approximately at 400 nm (3.09 eV), 450 nm (2.75 eV) and 540 nm (2.29 eV), respectively.
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This is important to notice that after comparing the obtained PL spectra from all four types of
fabricated LEDs, it has been found that the nanorods have the highest PL intensity peak in the
UV region as compared to the PL intensity of the all other nanostructures. It means that ZnO
nanorods have good crystal quality and more suitable for UV diodes. ZnO nanowalls
structures have the highest PL intensity emission in visible region when compared to other
nanostructures. As we know that the deep levels defects are responsible for emissions in the
visible range in ZnO. This means that ZnO nanowalls structure possess high deep level
defects density as compared to all other nanostructures.
Figure 5.14: (a-e) showing the EL spectra for n-ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN LEDs, in (a) nanowalls, (b) nanoflowers (c) nanorods, and (d) nanotubes, (e) showing the combined EL spectra of all the nanostructures, and (f) shows the CIE 1931 x, y chromaticity space of ZnO nanostructures based LEDs [15].
70
This is interesting to note that when comparing EL spectra of the fabricated LEDs based on
four types of nanostructures, it has been observed that nanorods and the nanotubes possess the
similar EL spectra. The only difference is that the nanotubes possess the higher EL intensity
in the visible region as expected because nanotubes have more oxygen sub-vacancies and
inject more charges as compared to other nanostructures. In order to compare the all four
acquired EL spectra, we have merged them into one graph as shown in figure 5.4 (e). It has
been observed that the nanowalls showed higher defects related emission but possess small
charge injected surface under the contact as compared to other three nanostructures. The I-V
characterization was performed using semiconductor parameter analyzer and all I-V curves
have been combined in one graph as shown in figure 5.15. This can be seen from figure that
the LEDs based on ZnO nanotubes showed the highest current as compared to all other LEDs
under the same set of operating conditions.
Figure 5.15: Showing the combined current-voltage (I-V) characterizations for the different ZnO (nanostructures)/p-GaN based LEDs [15].
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Finally, in order to evaluate the colour quality of the emitted emission, we have performed the
colour rendering indices (CRIs) and correlated colour temperatures (CCTs) measurements for
all four types of fabricated LEDs. It has been observed that the ZnO nanowalls based LEDs
have the highest colour rendering index (CRI) with a value of 95 with a correlated colour
temperature of 6518 K. Whereas the LED based on the nanorods possess the lowest CRI with
a value of 87 and correlated colour temperature of 4807 K.
We have also plotted the CIE 1931 colour space chromaticity diagram in the (x, y)
coordinates system as shown in figure 5.14 (f). The observed values of the plotted
chromaticity coordinates for the fabricated LEDs based on ZnO nanowalls, nanorods,
nanoflowers, and nanotubes were (0.3131, 0.3245), (0.3332, 3470), (0.3558, 0.3970), and
(0.3555, 0.3935), respectively. As per US standard ANSI_ANSLG C78, 377-2008 for solid
state lighting which described that the light sources with chromaticity coordinates less than
three MacAdam ellipses from the Planckian locus can be considered as white light. Thus,
after analyzing the obtained data from the chromaticity coordinates for the fabricated LEDs, It
has been observed that the values of the chromaticity coordinates of ZnO nanowalls and
nanoflowers are very close to the Planckian locus, i.e., around less than one Macadam ellipses
away and considered to be white light emitting diodes. Similarly, the values of the
chromaticity coordinates for the ZnO nanorods and nanotubes are about 3 Mac-Adam ellipses
away and these are also very close to white light region. Thus, it is concluded that the
fabricated LEDs based on different nanostructures are white light emitting diodes [15].
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[4] A. Offenh¨auser and W. Knoll, Trends Biotechnol. 2001, 19, 62.
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[6] Syed M. Usman Ali, Omer Nur, Magnus Willander, and Bengt Danielsson
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[7] M. H. Asif, Syed M. Usman Ali, O. Nur, M. Willander, Cecilia Brännmark, Peter Strålfors
, Ulrika Englund , Fredrik Elinder and B. Danielsson, Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 2010,
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Danielsson, Sensors & Actuators: B 2 (2011) 241-247.
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64 (2011) 697-700.
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CHAPTER 6 Summary and the future prospects The core objectives of the current research studies were to investigate the sensing /
transducing phenomena and photonic properties of ZnO nanostructured based nanodevices.
The design, low cost and simple fabrication process for the nanostructures is very crucial for
the effective and efficient applications of the future nanodevices based on these
nanostructures. Recently, scientists and engineers are working to overcome the problems
associated with the trend of the device miniaturization at nanoscale. We believed that till year
2020, a new paradigm of nanotechnology (nanoelectronics) will take place the current era of
existing micro-technology.
In the first part of the thesis, we have fabricated ZnO nanowires/nanorods on different
substrates and effectively characterized them for the sensing (electrochemical transduction)
applications. The diameters of these one dimensional (1D) nanostructures are comparable to
the size of the biological and chemical species being sensed, which intuitively makes them
excellent primary transducers/sensors for producing electrical signals. Among a variety of
nanosensor systems, our proposed nanowire / nanorods based electrochemical sensor is one
that can offer high sensitivity, high selectivity, and real-time detection, suitable for diagnostic
applications. We have successfully demonstrated the utilization of ZnO nanowires based
electrochemical sensors for the selectively determination of glucose (extra and intra cellular),
metallic ions (K+) and uric acid and urea etc. In addition to that we have successfully
employed these developed sensors in extended gate MOSFET configuration and wireless
remotely monitoring of glucose using existing GSM infrastructures.
For the future prospects, as the electrical signal produced from these electrochemical
nanosensors are strong enough (≥ 4 to 20 mV, required for data acquisition system) to
interface them with an appropriate electronic control systems to develop a lab on chip, a
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multichannel nanosensor chip/system capable to determine the multiple analytes or species at
the same time and transmit them through wireless medium to the concerned specialist/Doctors
for the immediate analysis and considerations. I would like to continue my research work to
develop an efficient wireless nanosensor device in the future as well.
In second part of the thesis, we focussed on the photonic properties of ZnO nanostructures
and colour quality of the light emitted from ZnO nanostructures based LEDs. There is indeed
a high demand to develop a cost effective low power consuming white light source to
overcome the high power consuming of the conventional light sources and their overheads.
We believed that the ZnO nanostructures based white LEDs can be an alternate choice to
replace conventional light sources in the near future.
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CHAPTER 7
MY CONTRIBUTIONS TO INCLUDED PAPERS IN THE THESIS
The papers which are included in the present PhD thesis mainly describe two aspects of ZnO
nanostructures i.e., sensing/electrochemical transduction phenomena and photonic
applications (nanostructures based white light emitting diodes). Characterization and
measurements were done by using SEM, XRD, PL, EL, AFM, EDX, SPA, AUTO-LAB,
POTENTIOSTAT / GALVANOSTAT and pH meter respectively.
1. Contribution to paper I
I fabricated the nanosensor devices, designed the experiments, performed the morphological
characterizations, data analysis and wrote the manuscript.
2. Contribution to paper II
I fabricated the nanosensor devices, generate an idea to work on, designed the experiments,
performed the morphological characterizations, data analysis and wrote the manuscript.
3. Contribution to paper III
I fabricated the nanosensor devices, designed the experiments, performed the morphological
characterizations, data analysis and wrote my part of the manuscript.
4. Contribution to paper IV
I fabricated the nanosensor devices, generate an idea to work on, designed the experiments,
performed the morphological characterizations, data analysis and wrote the manuscript.
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5. Contribution to paper V
I fabricated the nanosensor devices, generate an idea to work on, designed the experiments,
performed the morphological characterizations, data analysis and wrote the manuscript.
6. Contribution to paper IV
I fabricated the ZnO nanotubes and nanowalls on p-type GaN substrate and designed the
experiments, performed the morphological characterizations, data analysis and wrote my part
of the manuscript.