Juraina Md Yusof, Ismayadi Ismail, Muhammad Rahimi Yusop, Suraya Abdul Rashid, Mohd Ali Mat Nong, and Mohamed Husham Mohamed Ali

The preparation and characterization of zinc oxide nanorods on flexible bio-based carbon nanotubes cotton (CNTC) was investigated. CNTC was synthesized via floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition reactor using waste cooking palm oil as hydrocarbon source. A one-sided CNTC facet was used as substrate hosting the growth of zinc oxide nanorods. The zinc oxide (ZnO) nucleation seed layer was deposited onto the CNTC using 99.9% Zn target and ZnO nanorods were synthesized via chemical bath deposition method. It was observed that the average diameter and length of nanorods increased proportionally to the increase of seed layer thickness. However, the aspect ratio decreased with the escalation of seed layer thickness due to its diameter significant enlargement. The highest aspect ratio is 9.4 and the lowest is 6.3 for seed layer thickness at 117 nm and 282 nm, respectively.

The electrical conductivity measurement showed that sample with thicker seed layer yielded better conductive value due to the ease of electrical charges movement with lower energy gap. Conclusively, ZnO nanorods have been successfully grown on CNTC surface via facile synthesis route with minimal sample pre-preparation exertion. The hybrid of ZnO/CNTC offers promising future as CNTC is flexible, readily available and incurs lower cost than other substrates.

Keywords: Waste cooking oilZinc oxide nanorodsCarbon nanotubes spongeAqueous chemical growth

Please find the full paper at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2020.111439

Date of Input: 19/07/2024 | Updated: 19/07/2024 | roslina_ar