[abstract] We found that electron-beam lithography, a top-down approach, is a suitable prototyping method for templating and controlling hydrothermally-grown ZnO nanowires (NWs). By varying the deposition method of the ZnO seed layer, annealing and template hole diameter, the branching and alignment parameters of the NW growth was determined.  We uncovered the relationship between mutual impingement and template hole size, as well as found ideal growth parameters for well-aligned, single NWs.  These results can allow for higher efficiency in ZnO NW-based solar cells.

nanotechweb.org highlighted this article in February 2015. It was also featured in the nanotechweb.org spring round-up.

The paper by Samuel M. Nicaise, Jayce J. Cheng, Amirreza Kiani, Silvija Gradečak, and Karl K. Berggren has been accepted to Nanotechnology and is currently open access here.