CHARACTERIZATION OF VERTICALLY ALIGNED ZINC OXIDE NANORODS VIA A RAPID MICROWAVE-ASSISTED HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS PROCESS

This study presents an approach for the synthesis of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanorods (NR-ZnO) via a rapid microwave-assisted, low-cost, low-temperature, and non-time-consuming hydrothermal process. Two types of substrates, silicon and ITO, were used to compare the growth of vertically aligned NR-ZnO over those substrates. All X-ray diffraction reflections of the NR-ZnO were found that they were consistent with the wurtzite P63 mc space group, and the obtained scanning electron microscopy images indicated an aspect ratio of similar to 4. The polymer poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) was added to the NR-ZnO using a spin-coating method to assemble a hybrid heterojunction. Morphological and optical characterizations were performed. The NR-ZnO samples showed their contribution on spectral absorption in the UV-Visible region.