Title of article :
Investigation of structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of hydrothermally synthesized ZnOnanorod arrays with various aspect ratios
Author/Authors :
Safa, Saeed Young Researchers and Elite Club - South Tehran Branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran , Khayatian, Ali Physics department - University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran , Rokhsat, Eliza Plasma Physics Research Center - Science and Research branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran , Najafi, Mehrdad Department of Physics - Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
Abstract :
Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) with various aspect ratios (by changing the growth time between 0-240 min) were synthesized using hydrothermal method and were investigated using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–Visible and photoluminescence (Pl) spectroscopies. It was found that growth timeis directly related to the length, orientation and aspect ratio of the NR arrays.The optical transmittance of NR arrays indicated a regular decrement of average transmittance with increasing the length and aspect ratioof the NRs in the visiblerange. The porous ZnOnanorod grown for 240 min with the thickness of ∼ 1.56 μm and texture coefficient of 0.96 exhibits some interesting properties like average visible transmittance of ~ 60%, refractive index of 1.34, packing density of 0.26 and lowest optical band gap. As the growth time increased, the PL intensity sustained a general weakening and a red-shift of UV-emission peak position. The UVassisted photocatalytic degradation of 4-Nitrophenol (4-NP) of ZnO NRs were investigated. The considerable photocatalytic performance of ZnO NRs with highest aspect ratio was explained by its porosity and optical characteristics.
