Synthesis and photoluminescence of a full zinc blende phase ZnO nanorod array

A single-crystalline ZnO nanorod array with rectangular cross-sections has been synthesized, in which the as-obtained products are a complete metastable zinc blende (ZB) phase. X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy, and elemental maps have been used to show that the ZB-ZnO samples have a lattice constant a = 4.580??, and are free from contamination by hexagonal wurtzite (HW) ZnO. Based on our experimental data, the associated growth mechanism is tentatively suggested. In addition, the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum (about 400?nm (3.1?eV)) of the as-fabricated ZB-ZnO products was detected; this is the first experimental report of the optical properties of ZB-ZnO nanorod arrays.