Hydrothermal Growth and Characteristics of ZnO Nanorods on R-plane Sapphire Substrates

ZnO nanorods were grown on R-plane sapphire substrates with the seed layers annealed at different temperature. The effects of annealing temperature for the seed layers on the properties of the ZnO nanorods were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. For the as-prepared seed layers, the ZnO nanorods and the ZnO nanosheets were observed. Only the ZnO nanorods were grown as the annealing temperature was above $700^{\circ}C$. The optical transmittance in the UV region was almost zero while that in the visible region was gradually increased as the annealing temperature increased to $700^{\circ}C$. The optical band gap of the ZnO nanorods was increased as the annealing temperature increased to $700^{\circ}C$. In the visible region, the refractive index was decreased with increasing the wavelength, and the extinction coefficient was decreased as the annealing temperature increased to $700^{\circ}C$. The non-linear exciton radiative life time of the FX emission peak was established by cubic equation. The values of Varshni's empirical equation fitting parameters were ${\alpha}=4{\times}10^{-3}eV/K$, ${\beta}=1{\times}10^4K$, and $E_g(0)=3.335eV$ and the activation energy was found to be about 94.6 meV.