Journal of Inorganic Materials ›› 2013, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (3): 301-306.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1077.2013.12225

• Research Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Alignment Growth Mechanisms of Rod-like ZnO on Zinc Substrates

LIU Chang-You1, WANG Jin-Fang1, SUN Xiao-Yan1, WANG Ze-Wen2, JIE Wan-Qi1   

  1. (1. State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China; 2. College of Material Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710032, China)
  • Received:2012-04-11 Revised:2012-05-29 Published:2013-03-20 Online:2013-02-20
  • Supported by:

    Independent Subject of State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing (74-QP-2011); Basic Research Project of Northwestern Polytechnical University (JC20110247); Scientific Research Fund of Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (2010JK760)

Abstract: Discontinuous films of ZnO particles were prepared on zinc substrates by air pre-oxidation process. The arrays of rod-like ZnO nano-/micro- crystals on zinc substrates were synthesized through hydrothermal processing with N2H4·H2O solution. It is found that the rod-like ZnO nano-/micro-crystals align well on the substrate surface with a unique crystallographic orientation. The experimental results suggest a free alignment growth mechanism for rod-like ZnO nano-/micro-crystals on zinc substrates. The crystallization habit of ZnO nano-/micro-crystals is to grow along with the c axis fast under hydrothermal conditions, thus the well alignment of rod-like ZnO nano-/micro-crystals only depends on the state of ZnO nuclei on the substrate surface. The states of ZnO nuclei on the substrate surface with a unique crystallographic orientation well agree with others, which regulates the alignment of rod-like ZnO nano-/micro-crystals. In temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra, the "negative thermal quenching" phenomenon of near band-gap edge excitons is observed in the temperature ranging from 30 K to 60 K, which identify two non-radiative processes and one negative thermal quenching process.

Key words: zinc oxide, zinc substrate, alignment growth mechanism, photoluminescence

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