Low-temperature solution-based growth of ZnO nanorods and thin films on Si substrates

ZnO nanorods and thin films were synthesized on Si(100) substrates at a low temperature by controlling the ZnO seed formation in an aqueous solution process. Vertically well-aligned ZnO nanorods with a single-crystalline hexagonal structure and c-axis growth orientation were obtained despite having a different crystal structure than a large lattice mismatch with the Si(100) substrate. In addition, the authors suggest that the lateral growth of ZnO nanorods causes them to merge together into ZnO thin films during growth into the aqueous solution. It is also suggested that the significant blueshift of the main emission band in the photoluminescence spectrum obtained from the nanorod sample at 10 K can be mainly attributed to Burstein-Moss effects in the ZnO nanorods.