(Invited) Hydrothermal Growth of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanorods and Structural and Optical Studies for Soil pH Measurement Applications

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) are developed by a hydrothermal growing method using zinc acetate as the precursor material. The synthesized ZnO particle solution deposited on the Aluminum and Glass substrate by using a spin coating and thermal evaporation method. ZnO nanoparticle layer is treated for hydrothermal growing procedure and further annealing at high temperature to obtain uniform ZnO NRs. The structural and optical properties of the ZnO NRs are examined with field emission scanning electron microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectrometer, X-ray diffraction meter and UV visible spectrometer. The crystal qualities, grain size, diameter, and optical bandgap of the ZnO NRs were affected by the type of solvent and substrates used. The developed ZnO NRs thin film structure has high potential application in soil pH measurement. Keywords: ZnO NRs; Spin Coating; Thermal Evaporation; FESEM/EDS; XRD; UV Visible spectrometer Figure 1