Abstract
Hierarchically ZnO nanoarchitecture synthesized through coprecipitation technique. Growth process has been analyzed by varying pH from 5.5 to 13 along with post heat treatment process through the observation of surface morphology from 2D plates, triangular, hexagonal rods, needles, and finally to hierarchical. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals many intermediate phases along with ZnO which has been eliminated through the proper pH and temperature. The native defects have been discussed by using Raman and positron annihilation spectroscopy. Further, multifunctional properties of synthesized material have been discussed by candle-like warm white luminescence, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and energy storage applications. Specially hierarchically nanoarchitecture found suitable for warm white lighting along with effective for waste water treatment by visible light. The highly porous property of the same material made itself appropriate for effective oxygen evaluation reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction together with reduced overpotential and Tafel slope. The application for supercapacitor electrode (~780 F/g) also has been revealed which opened new dimension for hierarchical ZnO.
Highlights
ZnO has the potential to be a highly multifunctional material with coexisting semiconducting, electromechanical, magnetic, and optical properties
This study has presented synthesis of hierarchical ZnO nanostructured by just tuning pH value during the reaction with new insight into previous work to open the new domain of application
X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the samples synthesized at pH 9.0 and 10.0 show the pure wurtzite phase of ZnO
Summary
ZnO has the potential to be a highly multifunctional material with coexisting semiconducting, electromechanical, magnetic, and optical properties. Despite it being of great promise as a device material, limited success has been achieved till date. This lack of rapid progress is due, in part, to a lack of understanding of the roles of various defects in ZnO material and their effect on device performance. ZnO, with different morphologies and less native defects, is found to be important functional material to accommodate a large variety of applications. The novel properties of nanomaterials depend on their size and shape as the various facets or directions in a Crystals 2020, 10, 1025; doi:10.3390/cryst10111025 www.mdpi.com/journal/crystals
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