Morphology and Optical Property of ZnO Nanostructures Grown by Solvothermal Method: Effect of the Solution Pretreatment

Wenhui Zhang,Zikang Tang,Yuan Zhu,Xiahui Chen,Rong Xiang,Ning Xu

doi:10.1155/2013/986157

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures with different morphologies such as nanopyramids, nanosheets, and nanoparticles have been grown by a simple solvothermal method. The influence of solution pretreatmentt on the morphology and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures has been studied. The experimental results revealed the morphology of ZnO transformed from nanopyramids or nanosheets to nanoparticles after solution pretreatment. Raman and photoluminescence spectra are recorded to examine the crystallinity and optical property of the samples.

Highlights

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been recognized as one of the most important II– VI compound semiconductor materials in scientific research and technological applications, owing to its wide direct bandgap (3.37 eV), large exciton binding energy (60 m eV) at room temperature [1, 2], noncentrosymmetric structures, and various shape-induced functions
We have investigated the influence of solution pretreatment on morphology and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures grown by solvothermal process
When Zn(OAc)2⋅2H2O was used as raw material, the samples without solution pretreatment have a pyramidal morphology with an average size of ∼170 nm

Summary

Introduction

ZnO has been recognized as one of the most important II– VI compound semiconductor materials in scientific research and technological applications, owing to its wide direct bandgap (3.37 eV), large exciton binding energy (60 m eV) at room temperature [1, 2], noncentrosymmetric structures, and various shape-induced functions. Lots of research has been focused on the synthesis, characteristics, growth mechanism, device fabrication, and performance improvement of ZnO nanostructures with various morphologies including nanowires [9], nanorods [10], nanobelts [11], nanotubes [12], nanosheets [13, 14], nanopyramids [15, 16], hollow nanospheres [17], and quantum dots [18], which have been fabricated via different methods, such as chemical vapor deposition, sol-gel method, hydrothermal method, and solvothermal method [19,20,21,22]. We have investigated the influence of solution pretreatment on morphology and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures grown by solvothermal process

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions