ZnO nanorods were grown on glass substrates coated by an Al-doped ZnO seed layer via a simple solvothermal method using zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(CH3COO)(2) center dot 2H(2)O) and Hexamethylenetetramine (C6H12N4) reagent. The structure, morphology and optical properties of these ZnO nanorods dependence on the molar ratio of Zn(CH3COO)(2) center dot 2H(2)O to C6H12N4 were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrophotometry (UV-vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrometry, respectively. The XRD patterns indicated that all the ZnO nanorods were well-faceted hexagonal structures and preferentially grown along the c-axis. As the molar ratio of Zn(CH3COO)(2) center dot 2H(2)O to C6H12N4 decreasing from 2.5 to 0.25, the crystallinity of ZnO nanorods synthesized gradually became inferior and the width of ZnO nanorods also decreased. The blue-shifts of UV emission excited from ZnO nanorods probably arised from the decreased size of ZnO nanorods.

Keywords: ZnO nanorods; Solvothermal; Photoluminescence