Growth of Crossed ZnO Nanorod Networks Induced by Polar Substrate Surface

We show that by controlling the growth conditions, the crossed networks of ZnO nanorods were grown on an MgO (001) substrate. The [0001] ZnO nanorods grow along the < 1 1 1 > directions of MgO substrate and form aligned arrays. This growth is a result of polar surface induced growth from both the MgO {1 1 1} and ZnO +/- (000 1). The crossed ZnO nanorod networks are a potential candidate for field emission, optoelectronics, ultrasensitive sensing, catalysts and filtering.