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Athavan Nadarajah, Rolf Konenkamp.
Applied Physics A, February 2013, Volume 110, Issue 2, pp 453-457.
Physics Department, Portland State University, 1719 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, 97201, USA.
Abstract
We report on the defect properties of single-crystalline ZnO nanorods grown from solutions at temperatures below 90 °C. The nanorods can easily be doped by providing impurity precursors during growth. In the as-grown state the nanorods exhibit considerable lattice strain and distortions which compromise their electrical and optical properties. Upon annealing at moderate temperatures of <400 °C the lattice strain is converted into dislocation-type defects, and the dopant impurities become optically active. In the annealed state the near-bandgap photoluminescence quantum efficiency is improved more than 5 times and reaches ∼16 % at room temperature. Thus with moderate annealing, interesting device applications become feasible for nanorods grown at T<90 ∘C.
