Low Temperature Growth of ZnO Nanorods by Chemical Bath Method

Abstract

ZnO nanorods grown by chemical bath methods are of great interest in photovoltaic and electronic device applications because they offer low cost, low temperature deposition techniques compared to conventional molecular beam vapor deposition and sputtering methods. Our previous studies of ZnO nanorods grown by chemical bath technique on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates at 90 C for 8-10 hours resulted in uniform growth of hexagonally shaped closed nanorod structures. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques to map changes in surface morphology of nanorods grown on various substrates. Morphology of ZnO nanorods at temperatures 80C, 90C, 95C and 100C for 9 hours of hydrothermal growth also resulted in hexagonal shaped nanorods of various sizes and surface roughness. In addition, we studied the changes in surface morphology of ZnO nanorods on indium tin oxide coated glass, aluminum coated glass, and conducting tin oxide glass substrate. In this paper, we present quantitative data on changes in cluster size and shape of nanorods as the growth substrate and deposition temperature are varied. We will also discuss conductivity changes of ZnO nanorods deposited on various substrates.