Effect of the ZnO Rods Growth Time to the Conductivity of ZnO Thin Film Combined with N3 Dye

Abstract

In this work, ZnO nanorod has been grown by hydrothermal solution method. The samples were prepared by two stages. The first stage was seeding process where the ZnO nanoparticles are spin-casted onto ITO coated glasses and the second stage was hydrothermal process. The morphology of nanorods were investigated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and different of length and diameter of nanorods with different growth durations have been observed. The differences of diameters and aspect ratio of nanorods have affected the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO-coated thin film with dye due to its surface area and morphologies of growth rod. Aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods increases by increasing the reaction time (growth time). From the band gap energy study, the thin film with the longest ZnO nanorods growth time has the lowest band gap energy (3.55 eV). The higher aspect ratio of the nanorod affected the conductivity, by increasing the conductivity when combined with N3 dye.