Effect of bath temperature on the properties of nanocrystalline ZnO thin films

The nanocrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method from aqueous zinc nitrate solution at room temperature (25 °C) and at higher temperature (75 °C). The changes in structural, morphological and optical properties were studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical absorption. The structural studies revealed that the film deposited at room temperature showed mixed phases of ZnO and Zn(OH) ₂ with wurtzite and orthorhombic crystal structure whereas at higher temperature, the deposited film is ZnO with wurtzite crystal structure. After air annealing at 400 °C, all the films converted into pure ZnO with wurtzite crystal structure. The films deposited at room temperature showed fibrous surface morphology with interconnected flakes while films deposited at higher temperature shows well-developed nano-rod morphology. Optical study shows that band gap energy (Eg) of as-deposited thin films deposited at room temperature and at higher temperature are 3.81 and 3.4 eV, decreases up to 3.20 eV, after annealing treatment.