Study of Structural and Optical Properties of Zinc Oxide Rods Grown on Glasses by Chemical Spray Pyrolysis

• Main Authors: Erdal Sonmez, Serdar Aydin, Mehmet Yilmaz, Mustafa Tolga Yurtcan, Tevhit Karacali, Mehmet Ertugrul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2012-01-01
• Series: Journal of Nanomaterials
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/950793

We have investigated morphological and optical properties of zinc oxide rods. Highly structured ZnO layers comprising with well-shaped hexagonal rods were prepared by spray pyrolysis deposition of zinc chloride aqueous solutions at ~550∘C. The rods were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence, and ultraviolet and visible absorption spectroscopy measurements. The deposition of the 0.1 mol/L solution at ~550∘C resulted in crystals with a diameter of 400–1000 nm and length of 500–2000 nm. Sharp near-band edge emission peaks, centered at 3844 and 3680 Å, dominated the PL spectra of ZnO at 300 K and 6.2 K, respectively. In addition to this, absorption coefficient was determined by absorption measurement. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, results suggest that ZnO rods, prepared by spray pyrolysis, have high crystalline quality. This is desirable in nanotechnology applications.