Sequential microwave-assisted ultra-fast ZnO nanorod growth on optimized sol-gel seedlayers

Recently, the studies on ZnO nanostructure characteristics and their fabrication methods have been increased significantly in order to be able to use its magnificent properties by reaching the desired optimum features. Very high growth rate and high quality growth have always been the center of attention. In this study, a sequential microwave-assisted ZnO nanorod (NR) growth as an ultra-fast, highly efficient method for vertical growth of high quality ZnO NRs on different substrates is proposed. A NRs׳ growth rate of 4.2 μm/h was obtained which led to uniformly distributed, high aspect ratio and vertically-aligned NRs. Furthermore, the influences of spinner׳s speed as an important parameter on the quality of ZnO seed and annealing treatment have been studied. The sol-gel casting approach is optimized for the layer. Different seed layers were used to grow the nanostructures and the optimum spinner speed is found to be 2000 rpm. In order to diminish the dependency of the uniformity of ZnO NRs on the quality of seed layers, a remedy is suggested.