Tuning the luminescence and UV photosensing properties of ZnO nanorods by strategic aqueous chemical growth

Surface-adsorbed species play an important role in the photophysical properties of one-dimensional (1D) ZnO providing a scope to comprehend the change in these properties with growth techniques as well as parameters. We have shown an unprecedented change in the photoluminescence properties of aqueous chemically grown (ACG) ZnO nanorods (NRs) by positioning the substrate at different precursor column heights by exploiting a simple phenomenon of different amounts of dissolved O2 along the depth of a precursor solution with its surface exposed to air. As anticipated, the NRs grown at the bottom of the reaction vessel show more OH-related defects and/or adsorbed O2 than those grown nearer to the liquid–air interface, resulting in better crystalline quality, ultraviolet (UV)/visible (Vis) photoluminescence intensity and UV photocurrent properties in the latter. Therefore, one can easily tune the photophysical properties of similar 1D oxide NRs simply by varying the substrate position in a columnar reaction vessel used in aqueous chemical growth.