Fabrication and characterization of zinc oxide nanowires for high-sensitivity sensing applications

This paper presents synthesis and characterization of wurtzite-type zinc oxide (ZnO) mesoporous nanowires by a simple, cost-effective, electrospinning technique. The n-type semiconducting nanowires of ZnO were obtained from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and zinc acetate (ZnAc) in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) after calcination treatment at 550⁰C for 1 hour. The as-synthesized ZnO nanowires were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and photoluminescence spectroscopy. This paper also presents the fabrication of a single zinc oxide (ZnO) nano wire that is precisely positioned between two electrodes. Using a patterned gold microelectrode array fabricated on oxidized silicon wafer as a collector, the polymer nanocomposite wire can be placed between two gold electrodes. Controlled synthesis of a single nanowire between two electrodes is a candidate for high sensitivity sensing applications in the areas of gas sensing and biosensing.