Open Access Conference Proceedings

Plasma hydrogenation of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods was done at 13.56 MHz in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) with H2/Ar gas mixture. Plasma was monitored by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and by measuring self-bias potential of the stainless-steel sample holder isolated from the ground by a capacitor. The ZnO surface chemical composition was studied by XPS. The exciton-related UV photoluminescence of ZnO nanorods and optical absorption increased significantly after plasma treatment and diminished after plasma oxidation. Increasing Ar in hydrogen plasma caused more negative self-bias, less efficient hydrogenation and lower exciton photoluminescence. We attribute changes of optical properties to changes of surface and related electronic states giving also rise to its black color visually.

© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.