Enhanced luminescence property of 1 D nanorods realised by aqueous chemical growth on indium doped zinc oxide thin films

Highlights: • In:ZnO thin films are deposited by Spray Pyrolysis. • Indium doping percentage of 2.5 at.% shows better optoelectronic properties. • Nanorods (NRs) grown by Aqueous Chemical Growth (ACG) process • Alignment of NRs depends on seed layer morphology. • Enhanced emission in visible region for NRs with increasing ACG duration -- Abstract: The current piece of research aims at the depiction of the adaptability of the 1 D nanorods on Zinc Oxide (ZnO) for Light Emitting Diode applications. Undoped and Indium doped ZnO films are deposited on glass substrates by Spray Pyrolysis at 425 °C. The indium doping level is varied from 1 to 4 at. % and the variation of structural, morphological and opto - electronic properties with indium doping are studied. The films with 2.5 at. % of indium doping showed better transmittance (~90%) and low electrical resistivity (1.77 × 10⁻² Ωcm). 1 D nanorods have been deposited on In:ZnO thin films with better luminescence properties by Aqueous Chemical Growth (ACG) technique at various time durations. It is found that the morphology of the seed layer is the major factor determining the alignment of the nanorods. The In:ZnO 1 D nanorods deposited at 10 hours of ACG process is seen to have better electrical conductivity due to the effective networking of the nanorods. The X-Ray Diffraction analysis and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy analysis confirms the effective indium incorporation in the nanorods. The photoluminescence emission is found to depend strongly on the duration of ACG process and various defects are assigned for the emission in the visible region.