Fabrication and optical properties of NiO/ZnO hierarchical nanostructures
Abstract
NiO/ ZnO hierarchical nanostructures were synthesized by a combination of electrospinning, hydrothermal and ultraviolet (UV)-assisted deposition. Initially, ZnO nanofibers were synthesized by electrospinning method following thermal oxidation. Subsequently, ZnO hierarchical nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal method using ZnO nanofibers as templates . Finally, NiO nanoparticles were deposited on ZnO surface by UV-assisted deposition method. Morphology and characteristics of the material were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) and photoluminescence spectrum (PL). The results showed that the NiO/ZnO hierarchical nanostructures with high open space were obtained. NiO/ ZnO crystals showed hexagonal structure of ZnO without phase formation of NiO. PL spectra of the NiO/ZnO material showed emission peak s shift towards longer wavelengths in the visible region with increasing the content of NiO nanoparticles .