The optical properties of ZnO nanorod arrays prepared through hydrothermal synthesis for solar cell application

In this paper, ZnO nanorod arrays used as transparent conducting oxide(TCO) were fabricated on ZnO seed layers though a hydrothermal method and the seed layers were prepared by sol-gel method. Different pre-annealing temperature varying from 300°C to 400°C and different hydrothermal precursor concentration varying from 0.005 to 0.15M were studied. The effects of seed layers pre-annealing temperature and hydrothermal precursor concentration on the growth of ZnO nanorod arrays were investigated. It demonstrates that the ZnO nanorod arrays have better transmission with 350°C pre-annealing temperature and 0.15M concentration. And ZnO nanorod arrays have high density, good uniformity and a wurtzite structure with (002) preferential orientation.