PEPTIDE TEMPLATED SYNTHESIS OF ZNO NANOCRYSTALS

ZnO, a high mobility n-type semiconductor, is a highly attractive transparent material for applications in optoelectronic devices. However, the manufacture of high quality ZnO thin films requires high temperatures and/or pressure, making the manufacturing processes expensive. In this work we will demonstrate a biomimetic approach for the synthesis and deposition of ZnO films on Si substrates under mild ambient conditions. Simultaneous synthesis and deposition of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) is achieved in this work by the use of dual affinity peptides (DAPs) as linkers. One segment of the DAP has a strong affinity to the substrate and the other promotes the synthesis of the NPs. Synthesis of ZnO NPs in solution is confirmed by the appearance of absorbance peak at ~350 nm. Further characterizations confirm stoichiometry of 1[Zn]:1[O], and shows the formation of crystalline NPs with dimeter in the range of 10-20 nm. Initial results demonstrating the in-situ deposition of ZnO NPs on Si using the DAP linkers will also be presented. This work demonstrates the immense potential of using low-cost and green biomimetic approaches for the fabrication of thin monocrystalline inorganic films.