Nano Express
Photoluminescence of spray pyrolysis deposited ZnO nanorods
1 Department of Materials Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
2 Centre for Materials Research, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Nanoscale Research Letters 2011, 6:359 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-6-359
Published: 21 April 2011Abstract
Photoluminescence of highly structured ZnO layers comprising well-shaped hexagonal rods is presented. The ZnO rods (length 500-1,000 nm, diameter 100-300 nm) were grown in air onto a preheated soda-lime glass (SGL) or ITO/SGL substrate by low-cost chemical spray pyrolysis method using zinc chloride precursor solutions and growth temperatures in the range of 450-550°C. We report the effect of the variation in deposition parameters (substrate type, growth temperature, spray rate, solvent type) on the photoluminescence properties of the spray-deposited ZnO nanorods. A dominant near band edge (NBE) emission is observed at 300 K and at 10 K. High-resolution photoluminescence measurements at 10 K reveal fine structure of the NBE band with the dominant peaks related to the bound exciton transitions. It is found that all studied technological parameters affect the excitonic photoluminescence in ZnO nanorods.
PACS: 78.55.Et, 81.15.Rs, 61.46.Km
