Growth and characterization of single-crystal ZnSe nanorods via surfactant soft-template method

Stoichiometric ZnSe nanorods have been successfully synthesized through a simple and convenient surfactant-assisted reaction. The microstructures and the chemical compositions of the as-synthesized nanorods have been investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results reveal that the as-synthesized materials selecting sodium laurylsulfonate (SDS) as surfactant consist of ZnSe nanorods with diameters and lengths ranging in 16–20 nm and 120–270 nm, respectively. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern shows the single-crystal nature of as-synthesized ZnSe nanorods. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements show a very broad peak centered at 453 nm (2.74 eV), which is attributed to the quantum size confinement effect of the nanorods.