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    Superhydrophobic supported Ag-NPs@ ZnO-nanorods with photoactivity in the visible range

    Year: 2012

    Journal: Journal of Materials chemistry, 2012, 22 (4) pp 1341-1346, 20130115

    Authors: Manuel Macias-Montero, Ana Borras, Zineb Saghi, Pablo Romero-Gomez, Juan R. Sanchez-Valencia, Juan C. Gonzalez, Angel Barranco, Paul Midgley, Jose Cotrino, Agustin R. Gonzalez-Elipe

    Organizations: Nanotechnology on surfaces laboratory, Materials science institute of sevilla (ICMSE), CSIC-university of sevilla, C/Americo vespucio 49, Sevilla, Spain, Department of materials science and metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Pembroke street, CB2 3QZ, Cambridge, UK,

    In this article we present a new type of 1D nanostructures consisting of supported hollow ZnO nanorods (NRs) decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The 3D reconstruction by high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) electron tomography reveals that the Ag NPs are distributed along the hollow interior of the ZnO NRs. Supported and vertically aligned Ag-NPs@ZnO-NRs grow at low temperature (135 °C) by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition on heterostructured substrates fabricated by sputtered deposition of silver on flat surfaces of Si wafers, quartz slides or ITO. The growth mechanisms of these structures and their wetting behavior before and after visible light irradiation are critically discussed. The as prepared surfaces are superhydrophobic with water contact angles higher than 150°. These surfaces turn into superhydrophilic with water contact angles lower than 10° after prolonged irradiation under both visible and UV light. The evolution rate of the wetting angle and its dependence on the light characteristics are related to the nanostructure and the presence of silver embedded within the ZnO NRs.