^aMinistery of Education, Directorate General for Education, Baghdad, Iraq

^bPhysics department, college of science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq

The hydrothermal technique (90°C, 6 h) was used in this study to generate negatively conductive zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) on silver (Ag) nucleation layers, which have been deposited on glass substrate through DC magnetron sputtering and had average thicknesses ranging from 150 nm to 1500 nm. The properties that were studied were optical, structural, and electrical. ZnO NR films were all polycrystalline, according to structural measurements, and (002) plane exhibited the dominant reflection. ZnO NRs' reflection intensity reduced as the thickness regarding Ag nucleation layer increased, suggesting a reduction in the crystallization intensity. Surface measurements demonstrated that there was a discernible change in the nanostructures' shape as the thickness of the Ag nucleation layer increased. The nanostructures went from radially spherical configurations to needles, irregular rods, and finally regular hexagonal rods perpendicular to glass substrate's surface.

As the thickness of Ag nucleation layer rose, optical tests revealed a drop in transmittance and an increase in optical energy gap values, while Hall measurements revealed an increase in the concentration of hole charge carriers from 8.755 1017 cm−3 to 12.788 1017 cm−3 .