Photoluminescence and Lasing Properties of ZnO Nanorods

In this study, we investigated the structures, photoluminescence (PL), and lasing characteristics of the ZnO nanorods prepared by using chemical bath deposition. The continuous-wave HeCd laser-excited PL spectra of the ZnO nanorods exhibited two emission bands, one in the UV region and the other in the visible region. The UV emission band has its peak at 3.25 eV with a bandwidth of 160 meV. However, the PL spectra under 355-nm, 35-ps pulse excitation exhibited a spectrally-narrowed UV emission band with a peak at 3.20 eV and a spectral width of 35 meV. The lasing phenomena were ascribed to the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) caused by coupling of the microcavity effect of ZnO nanorods and the high-intensity excitation. Above the lasing threshold, the ASE peak intensity exhibited a superlinear dependence on the excitation intensity. For an excitation pulse energy of 3 mJ, the ASE peak intensity was increased by enlarging the length of the ZnO nanorods from 1 mu m to 4 mu m. In addition, the PL spectrum under 800-nm femtosecond pulse excitation exhibited second harmonic generation, as well as the multiphoton absorption-induced UV emission band. In this research, ZnO nanorods were grown on seed layers by using chemical bath deposition in an aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)(2) and hexamethyltetramine. The seed layers were prepared on conducting glass substrates by dip coating in an aqueous colloidal dispersion containing 50% 70-nm ZnO nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy clearly revealed that ZnO nanorods were successfully grown on the seed layers.