MOF-5 decorated hierarchical ZnO nanorod arrays and its photoluminescence

The strategy to manipulate nanoscale materials into well-organized hierarchical architectures is very important to both material synthesis and nanodevice applications. Here, nanoscale MOF-5 crystallites were successfully fabricated onto ordered hierarchical ZnO arrays based on aqueous chemical synthesis and molecule self-assembly technology guided room temperature diffusion method, which has the advantages of energy saving and simple operation. The structures and morphologies of the samples were performed by X-ray powder diffraction and field emission scanning electronic microscopy. The MOF-5 crystallites have good quality and bind well to the hexagonal-patterned ZnO arrays. The photoluminescence spectrum shows that the emission of hybrid MOF-5-ZnO films displays a blue shift in green emission and intensity reduction in UV emission. This ordered hybrid semiconductor material is expected to exploit the great potentiality in sensors, micro/nanodevices, and screen displays.

Research highlights
► Ordered polystyrene sphere monolayer colloidal crystals are served as template.
► Hierarchical bowl-rod ZnO arrays can be prepared by aqueous chemical synthesis approach.
► MOF-5 decorated ZnO arrays can be obtained combining with molecule self-assembly technology.
► MOF-5 can influence the photoluminescence behavior of hierarchical ZnO arrays.