Polymer-assisted self-assembling orientation growth of ZnO nanorods

The growth of ZnO nanorods based on an ion complex transformation method and a polymer carbonized grid backbone localization nanowire growth mechanism was introduced in this paper. We reported a preparation of the self-assembling [0001] oriented zinc oxide nanorods grown on Si substrates by using polymer as complex medium. A polymer solution containing ligands Zn²⁺ via complexing the homogenous polar radicals in polymers with Zn²⁺ ions in semiconductor metal salts was distributed evenly on Si substrates by coating. Then Zn²⁺ transforms into ZnO quantum nanospots by oxidization. All the polymers were removed after chemical oxidization and only the carbon grid backbones remained that confine the ZnO nanorod´s diameter. The ZnO nanorods have been characterized by FE-SEM, XRD and EDX. The diameter of ZnO semiconductor nanorods varies from 20 to 90 μm and the length up to 5 μm. The possible growth mechanism for ZnO nanorods on Si (111) substrates has been discussed as well.