Abstract

We have fabricated as-grown ZnO nanorods (NRs) and C(carbon)-supported NRs arrays on semi-insulating (100)-oriented Si substrates. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, revealed that the as-grown ZnO NRs and carbon-assisted ZnO NRs were single crystals with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, and grew with a c-axis orientation perpendicular to the Si substrate. These measurements show that the carbon-supported ZnO NRs were better synthesized vertically on a Si substrate compared to the as-grown ZnO NRs. Superconducting Quantum Interference Device showed that defect concentration of the carbon-assisted ZnO NRs was remarkably reduced compared to the as-grown ZnO NRs. The reduced defect concentration of the carbon-supported ZnO demonstrates the possible improvement in the performance of photovoltaic nanodevices based on ZnO like materials.

Keywords: ZnO nanorods; Single crystal; Vapor phase transport; Magnetization; Point defects

Abbreviations: NRs: Nanorods; LEDs: Light-Emitting Diodes; VPT: Vapor-Phase Transport; SEM: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy; SQ1UID: Superconducting Quantum Interference Device; XRD: X-Ray Diffraction