One-Step Seedless and Catalyst—Free Growth of Hierarchical ZnO Film Promising for Photoelectrochemical Application

A facile one-step method was developed for the fabrication of hierarchical ZnO film on substrate. Neither seed nor catalyst layer is necessary for the growth of hierarchical ZnO film. Three kinds of nucleation process were found, and the influences of growth time, growth electrolyte, growth temperature on the morphology of ZnO film were evaluated. Hierarchical ZnO film can absorb more than 97% of incident photons with wavelength shorter than 380 nm. Such hierarchical ZnO film would be a promising scaffold for photoelectrochemical application.