Effect of precursor concentration on structural and optical properties of ZnO microrods by spray pyrolysis

ZnO films have been prepared by spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrate at 500 °C. Zinc Chloride has been used as a precursor. Effect of precursor concentration on structural and optical properties has been investigated. Homogenous films are obtained with precursor concentration rating between 0.1 M and 0.4 M. X-ray diffraction patterns show that ZnO films are polycrystalline with (002) plane as preferential orientation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images show that ZnO films consist of microrods that their length increases with increasing precursor concentration and tallest microrods obtain by spraying precursor with 0.3 M concentration. The optical transmittance spectrum shows that transmittance increases with decreasing of the concentration and transmittance reaches to a maximum value of about 80% for the visible region ZnO films prepared with 0.1 M. Photoluminescence spectra at room temperature show an ultraviolet emission at 3.21 eV that can be related to band gap and two visible emissions at 2.88 eV and 2.38 eV.