Effects of substrate annealing on the gold-catalyzed growth of ZnO nanostructures.

The effects of thermal substrate pretreatment on the growth of Au-catalyzed ZnO nanostructures by pulsed laser deposition are investigated. C-plane sapphire substrates are annealed prior to deposition of a thin Au layer. Subsequent ZnO growths on substrates annealed above 1,200°C resulted in a high density of nanosheets and nanowires, whereas lower temperatures led to low nanostructure densities.