Investigation of morphology and photoluminescence of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods on substrates pre-coated with ZnO nanoparticles

ZnO nanorods have been hydrothermally grown on substrates pre-coated with ZnO nanoparticles. This work presents the detailed chemistry to control the growth morphology and defects incorporation during the hydrothermal synthesis based on fine tuning the interfacial energy, the zinc solubility co and surface charges. When co<0.88 mmol/l, a uniform coverage of nanorods is obtained and when co>1.56 mmol/l, large clustered rods are obtained. Finally, when 0.88