Novel composites based on polymer micro-rods for photonic device applications

• ZnO dumbbell microrods and simple microrods are synthesized through a simple low temperature wet chemical method.
• Effects of the reactant concentration and temperature on the sizes and morphologies of the ZnO products had been investigated.
• The linear and third order non-linear optical (NLO) properties of ZnO microrods have been studied.
• These micro-rods appeared to be an attractive candidate for optical switching applications.

ZnO micro-crystals had been successfully fabricated on a large scale under mild conditions without any additives, templates or substrates, exhibiting a hexagonal wurtzite structure and grown along the [001] direction. Effects of the reactant concentration and temperature on the sizes and morphologies of the ZnO products had been investigated. The optical absorptive nonlinearity of the ZnO/PVA composites was analyzed using an open aperture and a closed Z-scan technique shows a negative value for nonlinear refractive index n2. Stability as well as the mechanical properties of the crystals embedded in the PVA matrix makes them more suitable for device fabrication as compared to the ZnO crystals dispersed in solution.