ZnO/Ag composite nanorod arrays for surface-plasmon-enhanced emission study

The surface plasmon resonance enhanced emission through coupling of surface plasmons and exciton band energies is studied in hybrid ZnO/Ag nanostructure. The catalytic growth of ZnO nanorods is controlled in seed mediated growth by altering size distribution of Ag nanoislands. X-ray diffraction shows a predominant (002) crystal plane confirming the preferential growth of ZnO nanorods on as-deposited Ag. Increase of surface roughness in Ag film by post deposition annealing process enhances the light emission due to momentum matching between surface plasmons and excitons as well as a red shift of 32 meV occurs due to multi phonon and phonon-exciton interaction