Effect of Growth Durations on the Formation of ZnO Nanorods Prepared Using Continuous Microwave Heating Technique.

The effect of growth durations on the formation of ZnO nanorods thin film under continuous microwave irradiation was investigated. ZnO nanorods were synthesized using a microwave-assisted seed mediated growth method. ZnO nanoseed layer was prepared on Si substrate using a sol-gel technique. The microwave-assisted seed mediated growth of ZnO nanorods was conducted at different growth durations, namely 15, 20 and 30 min by fixing the irradiation power at 110 W. XRD diffractogram shows that the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure for all the samples exhibited a preferred growth orientation along the c-axis. FESEM micrographs reveal with increasing heating duration, the average diameter of ZnO nanorods increased considerably and contrarily, the surface density of nanorods reduced. PL analysis suggests that an extended growth duration has resulted in the creation of defects in nanorods films owing to the insufficient supply of precursor ions during growth process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]