Improve the near-UV/blue light scattering of ZnO nanorods via Mg-doping

The paper reports that the light-scattering property of ZnO nanorods (NR) can be improved significantly in the near-UV/blue light region by Mg-doping. The NR were prepared using the hydrothermal method then characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Xray diffraction, UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The results indicated that the average diameter and length of the NR reduced while the transmittance, band gap and light-trapping ability increased after the Mg-doping. The MgZnO NR shows significantly strong light-scattering parameter (average haze = 79.06%) over the undoped ZnO (43.29%) from 300 to 430 nm. This method presents a facile way for adjusting the light-trapping ability for ZnO thin films and the ZnO-based shortwave devices. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.