Microwave assisted chemical bath deposition of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on a variety of substrates seeded by PVA-Zn(OH)2 nanocomposites

► In this study we have grown high quality vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on GaN, sapphire, ITO glass and quartz substrates. ► We used PVA-ZnO nanocomposites as seed layer for the growth of ZnO nanorods. ► We characterized the produced nanorods by XRD, FESEM, PL, and Raman techniques. ► We found that ZnO nanorods grown on GaN substrates have high quality, well vertical alignment and have high texture coefficient compared to other substrates.