Structural and optical properties of ZnO microrods as fast and efficient UV scintillator materials

<div>Aqueous chemical grown zinc oxide (ZnO) microrods are found to be crystalline, uniform and well-faceted in terms of structure and morphology. From photoluminescence spectroscopy, these microrods interestingly exhibit ultraviolet (UV) near-band-edge emission at 392 nm (3.16 eV) without any visible or defect-related emission. The UV emission also intensifies with increasing excitation energy. Spectral narrowing is not observed indicating the non-existence of lasing nor stimulated emission from these structures.