Optoelectronics behaviour of ZnO nanorods for UV detection

In this study ZnO nanorods have been synthesized by a chemical precipitation method. The room temperature UV–Vis absorption spectra of the ZnO nanorods indicated two absorption peaks in the UV region, one in the near UV region and the other attributed to the band gap of ZnO. The Photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanorods show two emission bands, one ultraviolet emission band at 378 nm and the other in the defect related yellow emission band near 550 nm. The stimulated yellow luminescence of ZnO nanorods were affected by the synthesis time and annealing temperature. The same ZnO nanorods were deposited onto the ITO substrate to form a UV photoconductive detector. The ratio of the UV photogenerated current to dark current was as high as nine times under 3 V bias. Hence, these nanorods can be promising materials in the use of UV radiation detection.     

Enhanced luminescence of Ag-decorated ZnO nanorods

Ag-decorated ZnO nanorods were synthesized by thermal evaporation of a mixture of ZnO and graphite powders at 900 °C followed by wet Ag coating and thermal annealing. The ZnO nanorods had a rod-like morphology with a relatively uniform width and length. The widths and lengths of the nanorods ranged from 50 to 300 nm and up to a few hundred micrometers, respectively. The diameters of the Ag particles on the nanorods ranged from 10 to 100 nm. The dependence of the photoluminescence properties of Ag-decorated ZnO nanorods on the postannealing atmosphere was examined. Annealing resulted in an increase and decrease in the near band edge (NBE) and deep level (DL) emission intensities of Ag-coated ZnO nanorods, respectively, whereas both the NBE and DL emission intensities of uncoated ZnO nanorods were increased by annealing. The intensity ratio of NBE emission to DL emission of the Ag-coated ZnO nanorods was increased ~15-fold by hydrogen annealing. The underlying mechanism for NBE emission enhancement and DL emission suppression of Ag-coated ZnO nanorods by postannealing is discussed based on the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag.     

Cathodoluminescence and its mapping of flower-like ZnO, ZnO/ZnS core-shell and tube-like ZnS nanostructures

The cathodoluminescence (CL) properties including intensity and distribution of the band to band and defect emission of the flower-like ZnO, ZnO/ZnS core-shell and tube-like ZnS nanostructures have been investigated. It is indicated that the Ultraviolet (UV) emission at 380 nm of the flower-like ZnO nanostructures due to the band to band emission is weaker than their yellow emission at 600 nm induced by interstitial oxygen. Moreover, the UV emission of the ZnO nanorods unevenly distributes from the tip to the end. The UV emission on the tip is stronger than that of others due to the waveguide. On the contrary, the yellow emission at 600 nm is uniform. Furthermore, the UV emission of ZnO has been greatly enhanced and the yellow emission has been inhibited by the formation of ZnO/ZnS core-shell nanostructures in the sulfuration process due to the elimination of interstitial oxygen. However, the polycrystalline tube-like ZnS nanostructures shows the uniform and weak defect emission due to S vacancies.     

A template-free alcoholthermal route to Ti(Sn)-doped ZnO nanorods

Ti(Sn)-doped single-crystalline ZnO nanorods with an average diameter of 20 nm and length up to nearly 1 μm were synthesized by a facile ultrasonic irradiation-assisted alcoholthermal method without involving any templates. Photoluminescence spectra of the Ti-doped ZnO nanorods were measured at room temperature and three emitting bands, being a violet emission at 400-415 nm, a blue band at 450-470 nm and a green band at around 550 nm, were detected. The emission intensities of the Ti-doped ZnO nanorods enhance gradually with increasing the doping concentrations. As to the Sn-doped ZnO nanorods, the green emission shifts to 540 nm and the emission intensities increase first but decrease later with increasing the doping concentrations.     

Surface plasmon enhanced bandgap emission of electrochemically grown ZnO nanorods using Au nanoparticles

Electrochemical deposition of ZnO nanorods having a diameter of 80-150 nm and length ~ 2 μm has been carried out. Au particles were sputtered on the ZnO nanorods for different sputtering times (from 0 to 100 s). The Photoluminescence spectra of bare ZnO nanorods showed a weak bandgap emission at around 375 nm and a broad defect-related emission band centered at ~ 596 nm. After the Au sputtering, the defect-related emission disappeared for all the samples. Moreover, the band edge emission intensity was enhanced with Au sputtering time 50 s. The enhancement factor reached a maximum value for the Au sputtering time of 50 s The enhancement in band edge emission is due to the transfer of electrons from defect states to the Au nanoparticles that cause not only an increase of resonant electron density, but also creates energetic electrons in the higher energy states. These resonant electrons can escape from the surface of the Au nanoparticles to conduction band of ZnO nanorods leading to the suppression of defect related emission intensity.     

A comparative study on the NO2 gas sensing properties of ZnO thin films, nanowires and nanorods

ZnO thin films were fabricated using the spin coating method, ZnO nanowires by cathodically induced sol-gel deposition by the means of an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template, and ZnO nanorods with the hydrothermal technique. For thin film preparation, a clear, homogeneous and stable ZnO solution was prepared by the sol-gel method using zinc acetate (ZnAc) precursor which was then coated on a glass substrate with a spin coater. Vertically aligned ZnO nanowires which were approximately 65 nm in diameter and 10 μm in length were grown in an AAO template by applying a cathodic voltage in aqueous zinc nitrate solution at room temperature. For fabrication of the ZnO nanorods, the sol-gel ZnO solution was coated on glass substrate by spin coating as a seed layer. Then ZnO nanorods were grown in zinc nitrate and hexamthylenetetramine aqueous solution. The ZnO nanorods are approximately 30 nm in diameter and 500 nm in length. The ZnO thin film, ZnO nanowires and nanorods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The NO₂ gas sensing properties of ZnO thin films, nanowires and nanorods were investigated in a dark chamber at 200 °C in the concentration range of 100 ppb-10 ppm. It was found that the response times of both ZnO thin films and ZnO nanorods were approximately 30 s, and the sensor response was depended on shape and size of ZnO nanostructures and electrode configurations.     

Defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism in well-aligned ZnO nanorods grown on Si (100) substrate

In this work, we report the fabrication of high quality single-crystalline ZnO nanorod arrays which were grown on the silicon (Si) substrate using a microwave assisted solution method. The as grown nanorods were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), photo-luminescence (PL) and magnetization measurements. The XRD results indicated that the ZnO nanorods are well oriented with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate and have single phase nature with the wurtzite structure. FE-SEM results showed that the length and diameter of the well aligned rods is about ~ 1 μm and ~ 100 nm respectively, having aspect ratio of 20-30. Room-temperature PL spectrum of the as-grown ZnO nanorods reveals a near-band-edge (NBE) emission peak and defect induced green light emission. The green light emission band at ~ 583 nm might be attributed to surface oxygen vacancies or defects. Magnetization measurements show that the ZnO nanorods exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism which may result due to the presence of defects in the ZnO nanorods.     

Hybrid nanostructures of Au nanocrystals and ZnO nanorods: Layer-by-layer assembly and tunable blue-shift band gap emission

A layer-by-layer assembly technique was developed to synthesize the hybrid nanostructures of Au nanocrystals with diameter of about 5 nm and ZnO nanorods via the electrostatic interaction. In comparison with ZnO nanorods, the Au-ZnO hybrid nanostructures exhibited the broadened and red-shifted surface plasmon band, enhanced band gap emission, and suppressed defect emission due to the strong interfacial coupling between Au and ZnO. Moreover, the band gap emission of the Au-ZnO hybrid nanostructures is controllably blue-shifted with decreasing distance between the Au nanocrystals and ZnO nanorods tuned by the amount of the polyelectrolyte layers due to the exciton and plasmon interactions.     

Growth of aligned arrays of ZnO nanorods by low temperature solution method on Si surface

We report growth of ZnO nanorods by low temperature (<100°C) solution growth method. The substrates (Si, glass and fused Quartz) were seeded by pre-coating with ZnO nanoparticles (4–7 nm diameter) prepared by chemical precipitation route. Nanorods were grown on the seeded substrate in aqueous solution of Zinc Nitrate and Hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). The growth process lasts for up to 8 h and at the maximum time of growth, the nanorods have a width of ∼230–250 nm and length of ∼1.5–1.6 μm. The growth process after some initial growth (<2 h) preserves the aspect ratio and leads to about 90% texturing along the (002) direction. The growth of the nanorods was studied with time and observed growth data suggests a two-stage growth process. The nanorods have a well-defined hexagonal morphology and have a Wurtzite structure. The nanorods were characterized by different techniques and have a band gap of 3.25 eV.     

CO2-mediated synthesis of ZnO nanorods and their application in sensing ethanol vapor

High-purity ZnO nanorods have been synthesized via a two-step route using zinc acetate as a precursor without any surfactant and additive. In this method, ZnCO3 fibers were first formed in the CO2-ethanol solution, which directed the formation of ZnO nanorods by subsequent treatment in KOH aqueous solution. The as-prepared nanorods were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy. It was found that the as-obtained ZnO nanorods were single crystals with uniform diameter around 150 nm and length of 4 microm. The nanorod crystals were prismatic with hexagonal cross sections, consistent with the wurtzite lattice structure. Moreover, the sensing properties of the as-prepared ZnO nanorods were also investigated. It was demonstrated that they exhibited good performance for detecting ethanol vapor even at 380 and 250 degrees C.     

Novel synthesis of aligned Zinc oxide nanorods on a glass substrate by sonicated sol-gel immersion

For the first time, aligned ZnO nanorod structured thin films have been synthesized on a glass substrate, which had been coated with an Al-doped ZnO thin film, using the sonicated sol-gel immersion method. These nanorods were found to have an average diameter of 100 nm and an average length of 500 nm, with hexagonal wurtzite phase grew preferentially along the c-axis direction. A sharp ultra-violet (UV) emission centred at 383 nm corresponding to the free exciton recombination was observed in a room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The prepared ZnO nanorod structured thin film is transparent in the visible region with an average transmittance of 78% in the 400-800 nm wavelength range and high absorbance properties in the UV region (< 400 nm). The results indicate that the prepared ZnO nanorods are suitable for ultra-violet photoconductive sensor applications.     

Defect stabilization in ZnO nanorods by Mg2+ doping

Luminescent ZnO and Zn0.95Mg0.05O nanorods with length around 0.5 to 3 microm and diameter 100-150 nm were prepared by a facile solvothermal method. On hydriding at room temperature, a change of morphology from nanorods with aspect ratio 5-10 to particles of sizes 100 nm has been observed in both ZnO and Zn0.95Mg0.05O. While hydrided Zn0.95Mg0.05O showed an enhanced defect related green emission, the same got suppressed in hydrided ZnO. Even though it is observed that zinc vacancies are present in both as prepared ZnO and Zn0.95Mg0.05O, luminescence studies indicate that zinc vacancies get stabilized in Zn0.95Mg0.05O on hydrogenation.     

Effects of seed layers on structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnO nanorods

We studied the effects of seed layers on the structural and optical properties of ZnO nanorods. ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO (ZnO:Ag) seed layers were deposited on glass substrates by magnetron co-sputtering. ZnO nanorods were grown on these seed layers by the chemical bath deposition in an aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)2 and hexamethyltetramine. SEM micrographs clearly reveal that ZnO nanorods were successfully grown on both kinds of seed layers. The XRD patterns indicate that crystallization of ZnO nanorods is along the c-axis. Meanwhile, the packing density and the vertical alignment of the ZnO nanorods on the ZnO seed layer are better than those of the ZnO nanorods on ZnO:Ag. The enhanced growth of nanorods is thought to be due to the fact that the ZnO layer exhibits a higher crystalline quality than the ZnO:Ag layer. According to the low-temperature photoluminescence spectra, the ZnO nanorods on the ZnO seed layer show a narrow strong ultraviolet emission band centered at 369 nm, while those on ZnO:Ag exhibit multiple bands. These results are thought to be related with the crystallinity of ZnO nanorods, the morphologies of ZnO nanorods, and the reflectivities of seed layers. More detailed studies for clarification of the seed layer effect on the growth of ZnO nanorods are desirable.     

Epitaxial growth of ZnO nanorods on electrospun ZnO nanofibers by hydrothermal method

In this paper, we report a new ZnO nanofibers-nanorods structure which was successfully prepared by the electrospun ZnO nanofibers as seed to guide hydrothermal epitaxial growth of the ZnO nanorods. The structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL). The XRD results indicate that ZnO nanofibers obtained at 600° have high crystallinity with a typical hexagonal wurtzite structure. Furthermore compared with the strongest diffraction of ZnO nanofibers in (101) plane, the diffraction from (002) plane of ZnO nanofibers-nanorods becomes the strongest. The SEM shows that the diameters of epitaxial-grown ZnO nanorods on ZnO nanofibers were approximately 100–200?nm. The PL spectrum shows that the ZnO nanofibers-nanorods have a broad green-yellow emission around 537?nm, in contrast to that of ZnO nanofibers, the peak had obvious redshift about 24?nm and the luminous intensity weakened.     

室温固相法合成ZnO纳米棒及其光学特性

在氯化钠存在下,以硫酸锌和氢氧化钠为原料,采用一步室温固相法制备了纳米氧化锌.XRD、TEM分析结果表明:所得纳米氧化锌为棒状,直径约10nm左右,长度约100～160nm.利用紫外-可见分光光度计测试了光吸收性能,发现ZnO纳米棒对200～380nm波长范围的光有很强吸收性,在可见光范围内,也有较强的吸收.ZnO纳米棒在550nm左右具有较弱的荧光发光峰且ZnO纳米棒较普通氧化锌发光峰波长发生了明显的红移.     

Controlled novel route to synthesis and characterization of silver nanorods

Silver nanorods were synthesized by burning out the as prepared Ag-PVA nanocomposite films at 300 degrees C in air. Aqueous PVA solution is acts as stabilizing agents for silver nanorods. The formation of silver nanorods was confirmed from the appearance of two surface plasmon absorption maxima at 425 and 465 nm due to transverse and longitudinal mode of vibration of electrons. SEM micrograph showed the resultant nanorods were 500-600 nm in length and 50-70 nm in diameter. It is supported by TEM with more 1000 nm in length and 40-60 nm diameters. The XRD demonstrated that the nanorods were present in fcc crystal of pure silver. Finally the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) also confirmed the formation of silver nanorods with 3d(5/2) and 3d(3/2) band at 368.6 and 374.6 eV respectively.     

Synthesis and characterization of SnS/ZnO nanocomposite by chemical method

SnS nanorods and SnS/ZnO nanocomposite have been synthesized by chemical method. Structure and phase purity of the samples were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction. Transmission electron microscope image of SnS nanorods showed the average diameter of nanorods was about 85 nm and length was several micrometers. Transmission electron microscope image of SnS/ZnO nanocomposite showed the average particle size of ZnO nanoparticle was about 12 nm. The formation of SnS/ZnO nanocomposite was confirmed by elemental analysis using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. From the microRaman spectrum of SnS/ZnO nanocomposite, it was observed that the intensity of B_2g mode of SnS nanorods decreased dramatically compared to that of pure SnS nanorods, since the surface of the SnS nanorods were coated with ZnO nanoparticles. Both direct and indirect band gap transitions were observed for SnS nanorods from the optical absorption spectrum and the optical absorption spectrum of SnS/ZnO nanocomposite showed absorption in the visible region.     

ZnO nanorod arrays grown on glass substrates below glass transition temperature by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

High density, well-aligned ZnO nanorods with uniform distributions in their diameters and lengths are successfully prepared on amorphous substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that the ZnO nanorods are of wurtzite crystal structure, and are grown preferentially on glass substrates along the [0001]_ZnO direction. The degree of the preferred orientation of the ZnO nanorods is enhanced by increasing the growth temperature, as confirmed by the X-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction patterns. Photoluminescence investigations revealed the enhancement of the band edge emission with increasing growth temperature, suggesting the improvement in the optical quality of the ZnO nanorods with increasing temperature.     

Synergistic effects of SPR and FRET on the photoluminescence of ZnO nanorod heterostructures

Solution-grown ZnO nanorods (NRs) were successfully conjugated with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) to suppress intrinsic defect emission and to enhance band-edge emission at the same time. First, high-density and high-crystallinity ZnO NRs of diameter 80–90 nm and length 1.2–1.5 μm were grown on glass substrates using a low-temperature seed-assisted solution method. The as-synthesized ZnO NRs showed sharp photoluminescence (PL) band-edge emission centered at ～377 nm together with broad defect emission in the range of ～450–800 nm. The ZnO NRs were decorated with CdSe/ZnS QDs and Ag NPs, respectively, by sequential drop-coating. The PL of CdSe/ZnS QD||ZnO NR conjugates showed that ZnO band-edge emission decreased by 73.8% due to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and charge separation between ZnO and CdSe/ZnS by type II energy band structure formation. On the other hand, Ag NP||CdSe/ZnS QD||ZnO NR conjugates showed increased band-edge emission (by 25.8%) and suppressed defect emission compared to bare ZnO NRs. A possible energy transfer mechanism to explain the improved PL properties of ZnO NRs was proposed based upon the combined effects of FRET and surface plasmon resonance (SPR).     

A novel route to ZnO nanorods with small diameters of 20 nm

The ZnO nanorods with small diameters of 20 nm were prepared successfully by an easy “in situ consumed template” route. In the synthesis, Zn(Ac)₂ were used as Zn source and dodecanethiol (DT) was used as coordinated agents in ethanol solvent. The samples were characterized detailed by XRD, TEM and IR techniques. The results indicated that the ZnO rods were uniform in diameters with good crystallinity. Time-dependent experiments indicated that the ZnO rods are grown within the Zn–DT complex (a complex composed of Zn and DT) that was formed at the beginning of the reaction. With prolonging the reaction time, the Zn–DT “template” was gradually in situ consumed and transformed into ZnO, and finally, the ZnO nanorods with diameters of 20 nm were obtained. The method here provides the new route for ZnO nanorods with small diameters.