title: Chemical bath deposition of textured and compact zinc oxide thin films on vinyl-terminated polystyrene brushes.
abstract: In this study we investigated the influence of an organic polystyrene brush on the deposition of ZnO thin films under moderate conditions. On a non-modified SiO x surface, island growth is observed, whereas the polymer brush induces homogeneous film growth. A chemical modification of the polystyrene brushes during the mineralization process occurs, which enables stronger interaction between the then polar template and polar ZnO crystallites in solution. This may lead to oriented attachment of the crystallites so that the observed (002) texture arises. Characterization of the templates and the resulting ZnO films were performed with ζ-potential and contact angle measurements as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Infrared spectroscopy (IR) measurements were used to investigate the polystyrene brushes before and after modification.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Blumenstein
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Caroline G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Hofmeister
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lindemann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baier
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leineweber
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walheim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wöll
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schimmel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bill
keywords: bioinspired synthesis; polymer brush; template activation; thin film growth; zinc oxide