The effect of addition of Tiron as a surfactant on the microstructure of chemically deposited zinc oxide

The effect of one of the surfactants such as Tiron, a compound based on the benzene molecule, on the morphology and chemical composition of zinc oxide deposits, produced from a zinc complex solution using two-stage chemical deposition (TSCD) technique, has been investigated. TSCD technique is a novel and simple chemical route for the deposition of ZnO film from aqueous solution. Zinc oxide films deposited on high purity alumina (HPA) as a substrate. The results show that the addition of Tiron changes the surface morphology and causes to form the fine-grained structure. With a dense and nodular-shape appearance, the film produced from the precursor of zinc complex-containing Tiron, is composed of ZnO particles in even size of 90–160 nm and therefore, is suitable for gas sensors. Also the effect of the number of dipping on the surface morphology has been studied. The obtained results indicate that increasing the number of dipping causes to progress the deposition process. This is attributed to the fact that TSCD method involves both nucleation and growth steps. In addition, the mechanism for the deposition process of ZnO from aqueous solution was preliminarily discussed.