Annealing effect on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO nanorod array prepared by a PLD-assistant wet chemical method

Well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized by a wet chemical method on the glass substrate with ZnO thin film as seed layer prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The effect of annealing temperature on the luminescence characteristics was investigated. As the annealing temperature increased, the photoluminescence properties show a general enhancing tendency. The nanorod array with high ultraviolet emission and negligible visible light emission (designated by the photoluminescence intensity ratio of ultraviolet to visible emission of 66.4) is obtained by annealing the sample at 700 °C for 1 h. Based on the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectra, the mechanisms of visible emission were discussed.