Influence of aluminum-doped zinc oxide seeding film on morphological properties of hydrothermally-grown zinc oxide nanorods

The morphological properties, e.g. diameter, aspect ratio, and density, of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NRs) can be achieved through the control of seeding film morphology in seed-assisted hydrothermal process. The different morphologies of seeding film made by aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films are obtained by varying the thickness of seeding film. The change of seeding morphology from small granules with (002) plane dominant to platelets with (103) plane dominant leads to the significant change in the morphological formation of ZnO-NRs successively grown on the seeding film. The seeding film containing the dominant plane of (002) and small granules offers vertical-aligned ZnO-NRs with high surface area (high density and respect ratio) attributed to high nucleating density as well as the limit of the lateral growth from the surrounding adjacent nanorods. This work provides the consideration of morphological properties of seeding film. (c) 2020 The Japan Society of Applied Physics