Facile synthesis of ZnO nanorods by microwave irradiation of zinc-hydrazine hydrate complex

ZnO nanorods have been successfully synthesized by a simple microwave-assisted solution phase approach. Hydrazine hydrate has been used as a mineralizer instead of sodium hydroxide. XRD and FESEM have been used to characterize the product. The FESEM images show that the diameter of the nanorods fall in the range of about 25-75 nm and length in the range of 500-1,500 nm with an aspect ratio of about 20-50. UV-VIS and photoluminescence spectra of the nanorods in solution have been taken to study their optical properties. A mechanism for microwave synthesis of the ZnO nanorods using hydrazine hydrate precursor has also been proposed.