Two-step oxygen injection process for growing ZnO nanorods

Abstract

Uniform hexagonal prismatic zinc oxide rods were grown over the entire alumina substrate at 550 degreesC using a two-step oxygen injection process, whether the substrates were coated with a catalyst or not. X-ray diffraction showed that all of the depositions exhibited a preferred orientation in the (002) plane. The influence of oxygen concentration was investigated by changing the oxygen flow rate. Oxygen concentration affected the size of ZnO nanorods, especially the diameter. The ZnO nanorods were further checked using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, Raman spectroscopy, and room-temperature ultraviolet lasing. The results showed that the rods were single crystals and had excellent optical properties. By observing the growth process, we found that the diameter increased slowly, but the longitudinal growth rate was very high. The growth of ZnO nanorods revealed that the uniform hexagonal prismatic ZnO nanorods were synthesized through vapor deposition growth and a self-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process.