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

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.