0.01 M of Zinc acetate dihydrate was dissolved in the 75 ml of boiling ethanol (75 ̊C) in a round bottom flask fitted with a condenser at atmospheric pressure. The

solution is refluxed at 75 ̊C for about 30 minutes and subsequently allowed to cool at room temperature to give a transparent and stable Zn based precursor. In another beaker, 0.014 M of lithium hydroxide monohydrate was dissolved in 50 ml of ethanol ultrasonically to accelerate the reaction at room temperature. A clear solution is obtained after sonication for about 25-30 min. The hydroxide containing solution was added drop wise to the acetate containing solution at room temperature under vigorous magnetic stirring, and finally a transparent ZnO

sol is obtained after hydrolyzing the precursor.

use methods like sol gel , hydrothermal

Yes you can do in the glass substrate as well. But the morphology of the nano-structure will not as good as on Si substrate. In few cases you can develop appropriate nanostructure if you grow it on thin AZO seed layer.

@rakesh sonker, @Zainab Raheem & @Gourab Das, Thanks for the wonderful comments, it shows i have to learn a lot more things before do this experiment. I am really appreciated all the answers that u guys gave it to me. It will definitely help me to learn more.

I think you can use any substrate for this issue , the precipitation perhaps gives no clear morphology and image due to the effect of agglomeration

prepare an ultra-thin ZnO film (20nm)on quartz substrate by sputtering method then use that as substrate, This will ensure that growth will be fairly regular to make your study of time change clear and not interfere with other variables

Si or glass will be fine bur Si gives you better results

Zno over si without sio2 at low temperature you can not get good result because due to the mismatch between ZnO and Si but during to increase the substrate temperature the native oxide sio2 over si nearly about 550 -750 C increasing you get good result you can see my paper.

low temperature or spin coating method ,...without sio2 layer its so difficult to get good Zno I did but no get good result the zno like powder over the substrate. But at high temperature you can get result also depended some advantage method

Article Planar microcrystalline ZnO/Si heterojunction photodetector ...

Hello

Its normal in hydrothermal (autoclave) method not use substrate u will get some powder collect it and do your characterization

best regard