Intense and fast UV emitting ZnO microrods fabricated by low temperature aqueous chemical growth method

Intense and fast ultraviolet (UV) emitting zinc oxide (ZnO) microrods are successfully fabricated by low temperature aqueous chemical growth (ACG) method. Uniform and hexagonal microrods of varying dimensions are synthesized using different zinc acetate dihydrate (ZnAc) and hexamethelynetetramine (HMTA) molar concentration ratios. Although exhibiting broad orange emissions, the microrods have intense UV emissions with lifetimes as fast as 30–40 ps. Analyses show that there is no definite correlation between the microrod dimensions and the optical emissions. Nevertheless, with the ease on the microcrystal fabrication, these ZnO microrods with intense and fast UV emissions have potential use for future scintillator applications. - Highlights: • Hexagonal ZnO microrods are successfully fabricated by low temperature ACG method. • ZnO microrod dimensions vary with the molar concentration ratio of the precursors. • ZnO microrods exhibit intense UV emissions with fast lifetimes of 30–40 ps. • These ZnO microrods are promising for the development of new scintillator devices.