en گروه سرامیک Ceramic Materials and Engineering Research Paper Research Paper <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span calibri="" style="font-family:"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">In this study, a novel three-step method for the synthesis of ZnO and branched ZnO microrods was developed</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">. Numerous techniques were used to analyze the obtained samples: photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, raman spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDX), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-visible) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).&nbsp; The XRD study and Rietveld refinement confirmed that the synthesized samples have the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO without any impurity with the P6₃mc space group. To further verify our experimental results, structural parameters were calculated by First Principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and compared with experimental ones. A small decrease in the unit cell volume following the branching process was observed by the DFT calculations and Rietveld refinement results. Raman spectra showed peaks corresponding to the phonon modes of hexagonal wurtzite ZnO, which was consistent with the results of XRD and Rietveld refinement. SEM confirmed that ZnO and BZnO samples have hexagonal rod and branched rod shapes. BZnO showed stronger green PL emission but lower overall PL intensity compared to ZnO. The reduced photoluminescence (PL) intensity across all frequencies indicates enhanced separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs in branched ZnO (BZnO) due to decreased recombination.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Branched ZnO microrods,Rietveld refinement,structural properties,photoluminescence 169 181 http://ijmse.iust.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-5617-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 ines dhifallah ines.dhifallah@crten.rnrt.tn 1800319475328460021150 1800319475328460021150 Yes Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia faten rhouma rhoma.feten@yahoo.fr 1800319475328460021151 1800319475328460021151 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia imen saafi imena.saafi@outlook.fr 1800319475328460021152 1800319475328460021152 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia jamila bennaceur jamila3bennaceur@gmail.com 1800319475328460021153 1800319475328460021153 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia wafa selmi selmiwafa98@gmail.com 1800319475328460021154 1800319475328460021154 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia wissem dimessi dimesi.wissem@gmail.com 1800319475328460021155 1800319475328460021155 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia Radhouane Chtourou radhoane.chtourou@gmail.com 1800319475328460021156 1800319475328460021156 No Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LaNSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia