Large scale synthesis of zinc oxide nanorods by homogeneous chemical vapour deposition and their characterisation

Zinc oxide nanorods in high yield have been prepared by the gas phase oxidation of zinc vapour followed by the collection of the oxide by aerosol condensation. Electron microscopy of the rods showed that these are single crystals with a diameter between 5–50 nm and with lengths over 1 μm. Luminescence spectra showed a high intensity near band edge emission and a weaker emission in the blue. UV absorption coefficients for the nanorods are found to be higher than commercial nanocrystalline ZnO powders by one order of magnitude.