Hydrothermal in-situ growth of Tris(8-hydroxyquinolate) aluminum nanorods thin films

Tris(8-hydroxyquinolate) aluminum(Alq3) thin films assembled with large-scaled nanorods have been fabricated on Al substrates through hydrothermal in-situ growth method assisted by the surfactant of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate. The obtained Alq3 thin film is composed of uniformly sized (500–800nm × 4–10 μm) nanorods with regular hexagonal cross section, which are assembled to form dense nanorod arrays perpendicularly to the Al substrate. X-ray diffraction revealed that the prepared Alq3 nanorods were the α-phase. Photoluminescence spectra showed that the Alq3 nanorods thin film possessed a spectral blue-shift (10 nm) compared with the Alq3 solution. The hydrothermal growth mechanism of nanorods was studied, which implied that the hydrothermal in-situ growth process on the metal substrate played an important role in the formation of the Alq3 nanorods thin film. This simple hydrothermal method provides a convenient fabrication approach for nanocrystalline functional organic/metal interface.