Toward laser emission of epitaxial nanorod arrays of ZnO grown by electrodeposition

Arrays of epitaxial, vertically oriented nanorods of ZnO are grown at low temperature (80 degrees C) on the (0002) plane of GaN single crystals by electrodeposition in an aqueous solution. The freestanding nanocolumns are prepared by a template-free method based on simple solution chemistry. At room temperature, the nanorods present an amplified ultraviolet emission centered at 381 nm with an excitation threshold at 4.4 MW cm(-2). The amplified emission of the ZnO columns is dominated by the radiative recombination of excitons. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.