Electrophoretic synthesis of zinc oxide films for optical applications

Semiconductors are widely researched materials for a broadly range of applications, such as piezoelectric, optical devices, for energy conversion, such as solar cells and UV detectors. The methodology to synthesize these semiconductors is a great part of the contributing costs for these devices. Electrophoresis is a methodology with cost and efficiency balance. The zinc oxide is a potential semiconductor that can be synthesized by electrophoresis. This study used zinc oxide, testing different voltages, between 5 and 20 V, to observe the structural and optical qualities of the electrophoretic deposited films. The x-ray obtained films with great crystallinity films, with crystallite size ranging from 21 to 26 nm, and formation of hexagonal zinc oxide peaks (100); (002) and (101). Absorbance in the UV around 350 nm; and peak transmittance around 45%, with high reflectance in the visible range, close to 90%. The increase in voltage from 5 to 20 V affected the band gap values, reducing from 3.9 to 3.14 eV, which favors the optical application of the films.