A simple electrochemical deposition route for the controllable growth of Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorods

Here we report that the various Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorods can be successfully synthesized by electrochemical deposition route, which represents a simple, quick and economical method for the controllable growth of Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorods. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) both proved that the prepared Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorods consisted of single crystal with preferential growth in the [0 0 0 1] direction. The morphology and size of the nanorods can be tailored by optimizing the synthetic parameters. Furthermore, the flowerlike Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorod clusters can also be successfully prepared. An obvious blue-shifted absorption peak of Ce4+-doped ZnO nanorod compared with that of the bulk ZnO phase was observed.