Low-temperature synthesis of ZnO nanorods using a seed layer of zinc acetate/sodium dodecyle sulfate nanocomposite

Abstract Aligned ZnO nanorods were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method without calcination. A seed layer of zinc acetate (ZnAc 2 )/sodium dodecyle sulfate (SDS) nanocomposite was used for nucleation of ZnO nanorods. First, a ZnAc 2 /SDS composite was deposited on a Si substrate by spin-coating. And then, ZnO nanorods were grown under hydrothermal conditions at 90 °C. ZnO crystals were grown in the direction of c -axis perpendicular to the surface of the Si substrate. However, nucleation did not occur on the substrate of a ZnAc 2 seed layer without SDS, indicating that the presence of the ZnAc 2 /SDS seed enhanced the nucleation of ZnO crystals. These results show that high dispersion of ZnAc 2 in the nanocomposite effectively assists a nucleation of ZnO crystals.