Synthesis and photoluminescence of aligned ZnO nanorods by thermal decomposition of zinc acetate at a substrate temperature of ∼250°C

We report here a low-temperature approach which is simple and catalyst free to synthesize aligned ZnO nanorods on flat substrates, i.e. decomposing zinc acetate (C4H6O4Zn) in air at similar to 250 degrees C. The ZnO nanorods prepared by this method exhibited strong photoluminescence at similar to 377 nm, similar to 387 nm and similar to 401 nm. Thermal annealing experiments suggested that the emission at similar to 401 nm might be due to the defects in the ZnO nanorods which can be removed by low-temperature annealing, and that the near band-edge emissions at similar to 377 and similar to 387 nm might be caused by the difference in the diameter of the nanorods.