Low temperature wet chemical synthesis of good optical quality vertically alignedcrystalline ZnO nanorods

Abstract

The growth of ZnO nanorods on Au-coated ITO substrates using a low temperature wetchemical process is presented. Electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction observationsreveal that the crystalline ZnO nanorods are preferentially oriented along thec axis. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal a strong band edgeemission at 382 nm, a signature of good crystallinity, with a weak and broad orange–redemission, which is typically attributed to the oxygen interstitials, in the range between 520and 720 nm. Other than the second order feature of the band edge emission at 760 nm, nored or near-infrared bands are observed. The effect of precursor concentration on themorphological, structural and PL properties are studied, and the results are discussed.