Abstract: | ZnO nanorods were synthesized on NiCl2‐coated Si substrates via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The as‐fabricated nanorods with diameters ranging from 150 nm to 200 nm and lengths up to several tens of micrometers grew preferentially arranged along 0001] direction, perpendicular to the (0002) plane. The clear lattice fringes in HRTEM image demonstrated the growth of good quality hexagonal single‐crystalline ZnO. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra illustrated that the ZnO nanorods exhibit strong UV emission peak and green emission peak, peak centers located at 388 nm and 506 nm. A possible growth mechanism based on the study of our X‐ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy and PL spectroscopy was proposed, emphasizing the effect of NiCl2 solution (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |