Epitaxial growth of ZnO nanorod arrays via a self-assembled microspheres lithography

Abstract

Through a simple hydrothermal method, well-aligned and periodic honeycomb-like ZnO nanorod arrays were fabricated on a c-plane sapphire with an aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO) seed layer. Vertical and highly ordered ZnO nanostructures with the <0002> orientation were synthesized by employing a self-assembled monolayer of polystyrene (PS) microspheres as a mask. The optimal growth conditions allowed the growth of only one rod in the confined space between the microspheres. A ϕ-scan exhibited six-fold symmetry, which indicates a favorable epitaxial relationship between the ZnO nanorods, seed layer, and c-plane sapphire substrate. The epitaxial relation is as follows: [0001]ZnO∥[0001]AZO∥[0001]c-planesapphire. These results indicate that the AZO seed layer acts as a buffer layer that can relax the strain between ZnO and c-plane sapphire generated by the large lattice mismatch of 18%. The size of the resulting ZnO nanorods of diameter 20–90nm could be tuned by varying the concentration of the solution, pH, and duration of reaction. The large aspect ratio of the ZnO nanorod arrays can serve as a template for high-surface-area applications.