Hydrothermal Synthesis, Optostructural, Composional and Electrochemical Photovoltaic Properties of Nanocrystalline TiO2-ZnO Composite Thin Films

In the present investigation, we report facile synthesis of TiO2-ZnO nanocomposite thin films. High density TiO2 nanorods were hydrothermally deposited on transparent conducting oxide substrate followed by deposition of ZnO nanorods by simple chemical reflux method at low temperature. The structural, optical, morphological, compositional and electrochemical properties are investigated by detailed XRD, UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer, photoluminescence spectrophotometer, SEM, TEM, EDAX, XPS and photoelectrochemical studies. Optical spectra showed strong light absorption in UV region. The XRD spectra and TEM examination demonstrated that, the TiO2-ZnO nanocomposite consist pure rutile phase tetragonal TiO2 nanorods and wurtzite phase hexagonal ZnO nanorods. The SEM images confirm uniform, compact and well aligned nanorods were grown on the overall substrate surface. EDAX and XPS Spectra confirm the formation of pure TiO2-ZnO nanocomposite. The TiO2-ZnO composite materials showed photo efficiency = 3.8 %.