Low temperature growth of ZnO nanorods on flexible polymeric substrates

Vertical ZnO nanorods have been cathodically deposited on conductive polymeric substrates from zinc nitrate electrolyte at low temperatures of 60–80 °C. As-grown ZnO nanorods display a wurzite crystal structure that grows preferentially in the (0 0 2) direction. The interspacing between adjacent lattice fringes is approximately 0.261 nm. The growth rate of ZnO pillars in c-axis is an increasing function of both growth temperature and period. Arrhenius plots determine different stages of apparent activation energy (5.51–8.95 kJ/mol), showing an inhomogeneous surface reactivity on polymeric substrate during the ZnO growth process. This variation of activation energy can be ascribed to the two growth stages of ZnO pillars, the epitaxy and the texture growth.