Optical dispersion analysis of template assisted 1D-ZnO nanorods for optoelectronic applications

Morphology and size play crucial influential roles in semiconductor nanotechnology. Capping agents have been adopted in this study for controlled fabrication of symmetrical zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures, with a preferred orientation and agglomeration inhibition. Elongated one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanorods were successfully synthesised in a simple two-step process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed high crystalline films with a preferred (002) plane orientation. Ethylene glycol (EG) surfactant was found to produce substantial effect on both the morphology and crystallinity as relatively small uniform nanorods with crocked ends were observed from morphological analysis. All the synthesised ZnO films depicted optical transmittance of over 50% in the visible range and a strong absorption peak in the UV proximity, at 380 nm. An evaluation of the optical parameters calculated from the measured transmittance indicated that surfactants can be used to modify the refractive index, real and imaginary dielectric constants of ZnO nanorods, to optimize the performance of optoelectronic devices.