A comparison of the morphological and electrical properties of sol-gel dip coating and atomic layer deposition of ZnO on 3D nanospring mats

We report on the morphological and electrical properties, with (light) and without (dark) UV illumination, of conformal coatings of ZnO on silica nanosprings deposited by sol-gel and atomic layer deposition (ALD) for the first time. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) imaging showed that both methods produce conformal coatings of ZnO on the nanosprings. The surface of the sol-gel coatings exhibited cracks at higher numbers of dipping/sintering cycles, while the morphology of ALD ZnO films were always smooth and devoid of cracks. The effective photoconductivity of the sol-gel ZnO coated nanospring mats increased nonlinearly with increasing coating thickness. The corresponding dark effective conductivity of the sol-gel ZnO coated nanospring mats also increased within the same thickness range. Alternatively, the effective photoconductivity of the ALD ZnO coated nanospring mats increased linearly with increasing coating thickness. The corresponding dark effective conductivity also increased within the same thickness range. The superior effective conductivity and photoconductivity of the ALD ZnO coated nanospring mats is attributed to the uniformity of the coating and the absence of cracks, which are observed for the thicker sol-gel ZnO coatings.