PLD fabrication of ZnO nanostructures on metal-coated substrates

In this work, ZnO nanostructures were fabricated on metal (a metal alloy containing Fe, Cr, Mn and Ni) coated silicon substrates by applying pulsed laser deposition. The samples were prepared at substrate temperatures in the range of 550 – 650 °C, oxygen pressure of 5 Pa, and laser fluence ≤ 1 J cm−2 i.e., process parameters usually used for thin-film deposition. We found that the metal layer's role is substantial in the preparation of nanostructures, the morphology of the catalyst layer determines the growth of the ZnO nanowalls and the increase of the process temperature leads to nanorods formation on the nanowalls.