Effects of substrates and seed layers on solution growing ZnO nanorods

Oriented ZnO nanorods were fabricated in a two-step approach, including the synthesis of seed layer on different substrates and the growth of ZnO nanorods in aqueous solutions of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine at low temperature. The effects of seed layer synthesized by different methods, sol–gel method and electrochemical deposition method, on the orientation and morphologies of ZnO nanorods were compared in detail. The optimal parameters for the growth of highly oriented ZnO nanorod arrays were found and the forming mechanism was also disclosed. Furthermore, as an application of the ZnO nanorod film, dye-sensitized solar cells based on it were successfully fabricated. The cell performances of ZnO nanorods grown on ED-ZnO seed layer deposited at −700 mV were higher than those with SG-ZnO seed layer due to good nanostructure.