《Growth of aligned ZnO nanorod arrays by catalyst-free pulsed laser deposition methods》.pdf

Chemical Physics Letters 396 (2004) 21–26 /locate/cplett Growth of aligned ZnO nanorod arrays by catalyst-free pulsed laser deposition methods Ye Sun, Gareth M. Fuge, Michael N.R. Ashfold * School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK Received 2 July 2004; in final form 29 July 2004 Available online 24 August 2004 Abstract Arrays of well-aligned ZnO nanorods were synthesized on a Si substrate at 600 C by 193 nm pulsed laser ablation of a ZnO target in low pressures of oxygen. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction revealed highly c-axis aligned, ultra-thin, needle-like nanorods with tip diameters 50 nm growing vertically from the substrate. Many of the rods appear to be capped by particles, which high-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows to be ZnO also. It is suggested that these derive from post-growth crystal- lisation of oxygen rich molten zinc droplets that cap the nanorods during growth – indicating a vapour–liquid–solid growth mech- anism. The room temperature photoluminescence spectra of these samples show strong, narrow bandwidth UV emission 380 nm and only weak visible emission. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction towards achieving controlled and reproducible growth of such nanorod arrays have been reported, including Zinc oxide, a representative II–VI compound semi- chemical vapour transport and condensation (CVTC) conductor