Growth of ZnO nanorod arrays on soft substrates by hydrothermal process

Growth of ZnO nanorod arrays on soft substrates by hydrothermal process

ZnO nanorod arrays with quite homogeneous size and shape were fabricated by introducing ZnO seed-layer as nucleation centers on the soft ITO substrates prior to the hydrothermal reaction. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence method. After the ZnO seed-layer is introduced, the resulting deposits on the substrates develop into nanorods, and the diameter decreases obviously to about 100 nm. Influences of the coated nanocrystal seed nuclei on the morphology of ZnO nanorod arrays were discussed. The results show that each nanorod is monocrystalline with wurtzite-type structure and oriented in c-axis direction. The increase of the intensity ratio of ultraviolet to visible emissions in room-temperature photoluminescence spectra and the decrease of the ultraviolet PL linewidths show the improvement of the quality of ZnO nanorods. A simple and effective method to synthesize ZnO nanorod arrays with fairly uniform size and shape on soft substrates is dip-coating ZnO nanocrystals prior to hydrothermal reaction, and it may be also feasible for the fabrication of other small-size metal oxide nanostructures on soft substrates.