Transparent zinc oxide films prepared by electrochemical reaction

Transparent zinc oxide (ZnO) films has been cathodically deposited on conductive glasses from a simple aqueous zinc nitrate electrolyte kept at 335 K. ZnO films prepared had a wurtzite structure and exhibited an optical band gap energy of 3.3 eV which is characteristic of ZnO. A 2-μm-thick ZnO film with an optical transmittance of 72% has been deposited by electrolysis only for approximately 20 minutes at the cathodic potential of −1.0 V compared with the Ag/AgCl reference electrode.