Growth and Characterization of [001] ZnO Nanorod Array on ITO Substrate with Electric Field Assisted Nucleation

Abstract

This paper reports direct growth of [001] ZnO nanorod arrays on ITO substrate from aqueous solution with electric field assisted nucleation, followed with thermal annealing. Xray diffraction analyses revealed that nanorods have wurtzite crystal structure. The diameter of ZnO nanorods was 60 ~ 300 nm and the length was up to 2.5 µm depending on the growth condition. Photoluminescence spectra showed a broad emission band spreading from 500 to 870 nm, which suggests that ZnO nanorods have a high density of oxygen interstitials. Low and nonlinear electrical conductivity of ZnO nanorod array was observed, which was ascribed to non-ohmic contact between top electrode and ZnO nanorods and the low concentration of oxygen vacancies.

Microstructural, chemical and textural characterization of ZnO nanorods synthesized by aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition

“…This outcome suggests that the formation of nucleation centers was evenly distributed in the oxide surface. This effect was also in accordance to the previous observations reported elsewhere [2,4,[6][7][8]10,12].…”

“…Comparison with results of pole figure conventional texture analysis of Pung et al [23] shows a clear coincidence with samples synthesized by ALD at 280°C with dominant [001] crystal axis oriented perpendicular to the substrate. An alternative route used for texture description which is often found in the literature, adopts the so-called Lotgering factor [2,9]. In the present work, it is preferred to work with the (inverse and direct) pole figures for quantitative characterization of texture, following references [1,15].…”

“…According to the literature, it is suitable for a wide range of applications, i.e. solar cells, gas sensors and photocatalyst [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. As a consequence of its two polar surfaces and thirteen fast growth directions, ZnO can be easily obtained in various morphologies including nanorods, nanowires and nanotubes [4,5,10].…”

“…In agreement with various reports, the development of well-ordered ZnO nanorod arrays can be achieved by first growing a layer of seeds that serve as effective nucleation sites. An alternative method is to use a crystalline substrate, where ZnO rods can be later deposited [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Both routes have demonstrated the possibility to generate uniform hexagonal c-axis oriented nanorods, from which the texture estimation has been expressed in terms of X-ray diffraction observations or through the calculation of the Lotgering factor [1,2,9,11].…”

Influence of ion-doping on the photoelectric properties of mesoporous ZnO thin films

“…ZnO has received considerable attention due to its broad range of application, such as light-emitting diodes [1] , lasers [2] , photovoltaic solar cells [3] , UV-photodetectors, sensors [4] , and so on. Furthermore, doping metal ions with selective elements in mesoporous ZnO film provides an effective method to help to build the mesoporous structures, expand its light absorption band, improve its photoelectric properties, which is crucial for their practical applications.…”