Facile boosting light-scattering of ZnO nanorods in broadband spectrum region

Abstract We first report that the light-scattering characteristic of ZnO nanorods (NRs) can be controlled by a ramping annealing rate of the seed layer. The NRs were characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction and UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The results indicate that based on the seed layer with ramping rate, the average diameter and length of the NRs increased, which leads to about 1.74% mismatches and 7.57 GPa tensile stress between the NRs and substrate. The resulting NRs show a boosting light-scattering with an average Haze of 54.73% throughout 300–850 nm, obtaining an improvement of 43.93% than the NRs based on the regular heating seed layer throughout broadband spectrum region from 300 to 1000 nm. The work presents a facile solution way for strengthening the light-trapping of ZnO NRs and most importantly, it is especially suitable for the commercialized production of the thin films solar cells because the NRs can be fabricated using an inexpensive and scalable processes.