Hydrothermal Growth and Characterization of ZnO Nanostructures on R-plane Sapphire Substrates

ZnO nanostructures were grown on R-plane sapphire substrates with seed layers annealed at different temperatures ranging from 600 to $800^{\circ}C$. The properties of the ZnO nanostructures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectrophotometer, and photoluminescence. For the as-prepared seed layers, ZnO nanorods and ZnO nanosheets were observed. However, only ZnO nanorods were grown when the annealing temperature was above $700^{\circ}C$. The crystal qualities of the ZnO nanostructures were enhanced when the seed layers were annealed at $700^{\circ}C$. In addition, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of near-band-edge emission (NBE) peak was decreased from 139 to 129 meV by increasing the annealing temperature to $700^{\circ}C$. However, the FWHM was slightly increased again by a further increase in the annealing temperature. Optical transmittance in the UV region was almost zero, while that in the visible region was gradually increased as the annealing temperature increased to $700^{\circ}C$. The optical band gap of the ZnO nanostructures was increased as the annealing temperature increased to $700^{\circ}C$. It is found that the optical properties as well as the structural properties of the rod-shaped ZnO nanostructures grown on R-plane sapphire substrates by hydrothermal method are improved when the seed layers are annealed at $700^{\circ}C$.

R-plane Sapphire 기판에 수열합성법으로 제작된 ZnO 나노구조체의 성장 및 특성