%0 Journal Article
%T Electrochemical Tailoring of Honeycomb-Structured ZnO Thin Films by Interfacial Surfactant Templating
%A B. G. Pawar
%A P. P. Salvi
%A S. S. Kolekar
%J ISRN Nanomaterials
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/907340
%X Zinc oxide thin films with honeycomb structures can be electrochemically produced by interfacial surfactant templating. Newly synthesized 4-amino-1-(2,3-dihydroxy propyl) pyridinium hydroxide ionic liquid exhibiting the hydroxyl functionalized ionic liquids (HFILs) was used in electrodeposition. This method utilizes amphiphile assemblies at the solid-liquid interface (i.e., the surface of a working electrode) as a template to gain the precisely tailor zinc oxide nanostructures. The results described here will provide a useful foundation to design and optimize greener protocol for the electrochemical construction of inorganic nanostructures thin films for possible application of films in nanotechnology field. Moreover, it is believed that this electrochemical tailoring approach can be extended to fabricate other porous metal oxide materials with a unique morphology or shape. 1. Introduction Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) created a center of attention due to their unique materials and solvent properties and the growing interest in academia as well as applicative purposes. Salts with organic cations open a window for the liquid state at more moderate temperatures. Adopting such ideas, the past decade has seen the advent of a new class of solvents, referred to as ¡°ionic liquids¡±. This term describes organic salts that are liquid at or near room temperature which have melting point below some arbitrary temperature, such as 100¡ãC [1]. The unique properties of ILs such as high conductivity, nonvolatility, low toxicity, large electrochemical window, good electrochemical stability, and high ionic mobility favor its applications in diverse fields, such as synthesis, catalysis, separation technology, electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, and nanotechnology [2]. But the highly viscous nature of ILs has low ionic conductivity at room temperature, which inevitably affects their performance. Therefore, designing an IL with high conductivity and a large voltage window for practical applications is still challenging. The unique variability of the ions often allows the properties of interest to be imparted, so that ILs are denoted as ¡°designer solvents¡± or ¡°task-specific ionic liquids (TSILs)¡±, which can solve the regarding problems. Recently, much advancement of zinc oxide nano- and microstructure with various applications [3¨C8], is because zinc oxide (ZnO) is a versatile material of compound semiconductors with excellent properties and extensive applications in electronics, photoelectronics, sensors, and catalyses. The remarkable properties of ZnO are its wide
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.nanomaterials/2012/907340/