Abstract
•ZnO Nanorods prepared onto flexible substates at low temperature.•The properties of the prepared ZnO nanorods has been improved at 95C.•The diameter of the prepared Nanorods can be controlled by controlling bath temperature.
In this study, ZnO nanorods (NRs) have been successfully grown onto polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrates at low temperatures (85, 90, 95, 100 °C) by chemical bath deposition. Growth temperature for the prepared ZnO NRs was controlled by using electrical oven equipped with digital heat control. It is found that at 95 °C, well vertically aligned ZnO NRs are obtained with enhanced structural and optical properties. The crystallite size, lattice strain, and near-band edge emission of ZnO NRs band gap energy have been significantly improved as confirmed by X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements. The crystallite size increases significantly from 52 to 94 nm as the growth temperature is raised by 10 °C only, i.e., from 85 to 95 °C. Besides, the near band edge emission to deep level emission ratio has been also enhanced, from 1.328 to 4.474 for 85 to 95 °C, respectively. The obtained results highlight that the properties of ZnO NRs can be tuned and controlled through the growth temperature. Besides, this study introduced a facile cost-effective method to produce ZnO NRs for flexible based-electronic applications.