Study for the electrochemical deposition on single carbon fiber and electrochemiluminescence of ZnO nanostructures

In this work, ZnO nano-needles were electrochemically deposited onto the surface of single carbon fiber. The influence of deposition condition on the surface morphology of ZnO nanostructures was investigated. A growth mechanism was suggested to elucidate the deposition process. Electrochemiluminescence conducted in 0.1 M KOH solution containing 0.1 M K2S2O8 and 0.1 M KCl displayed the stable and sensitive luminescent property of as-prepared ZnO nano-needles. The electrochemiluminescence intensity per projection area from ZnO nano-needles deposited on single carbon fiber was almost five orders of magnitude larger than that from ZnO nanostructures deposited on ITO and ZnO dip-coated on ITO. It demonstrated the high electrochemiluminescence efficiency of ZnO nano-needles deposited on single carbon fiber and the remarkable electrical conductivity of carbon fiber. This work presented a new strategy to deposit oxides on carbon fiber with tunable coverage and nanostructure. Furthermore, the excellent electrochemiluminescence property of ZnO nano-needles on carbon fiber highlights the importance and potential utility of such nanostructures in the development of optoelectronic and biomedical devices.