Controlled growth of well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays by hydrothermal method

Abstract

The application prospect of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures largely relies on the ability to grow nanoobjects with necessary geometry. In this study well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays with a high density and uniformity were successfully synthesized on the glass substrates by a hydrothermal method at low-temperature. The aqueous solutions of zinc nitrate hexahydrate and hexamethylenetetramine was used. The effect of seed layer (obtained by electrochemical method and by vacuum deposition method) on the alignment of ZnO nanorods has been investigated. The morphological properties of the ZnO nanorods were also examined in accordance with varying the magnetron sputtering angle for ZnO seeds deposition. It is also shown that the electric field can control the direction of the growth of ZnO nanorods. Morphological, structural and compositional characterizations of obtained films were carried out by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis methods.