Large photoluminescence enhancement in mechanical-exfoliated one-dimensional ZnO nanorods

Herein, we presented the low-dimensional mechanical-exfoliated growth of hexagonal ZnO nanorods. The structural, morphological and optical properties have been investigated. The hexagonal wurtzite structure has been confirmed via X-ray diffraction graphs showing the (002) preferred orientation. The rod-like hexagonal structure has been revealed in the Field-emission Scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) analysis. Threefold enhancement in near-band-edge (NBE) emission of photoluminescence spectra has been achieved in low-dimensional ZnO nanorods (NRs) without any doping. This paves new ways for low-dimensional semiconductors in order to fabricate high-efficient luminescence devices.