Influence of growth conditions on morphology of ZnO nanorods by low-temperature hydrothermal method

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) promise high potentials in several applications, such as photovoltaic device, thermoelectric device, sensor and solar cell. In this research, the vertical alignment of ZnO NRs was fabricated by hydrothermal method with various precursor concentrations and growth time on different seed layers (ZnO and Au), which deposited on silicon wafer substrate (100). The crystalline structure and morphology of ZnO NRs have been characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) techniques, respectively. The x-ray diffraction pattern shows that the prepared samples have a strong preferred orientation (002) plane. FE-SEM images of the ZnO NRs, it found that the density and aspect ratio were strongly influenced by the seed layer and precursor concentration. In addition, the aspect ratio of ZnO NRs was increased with increasing growth time. This study provides a cost effective method for the fabrication of well aligned ZnO NRs for nano-electronic devices. © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.