Nanosphericals and nanobundles of ZnO: Synthesis and characterization

Abstract

ZnO nanosphericals and nanobundles well dispersion have been synthesized using [( N, N′-bis(salicylaldehydo)ethylenediamine)zinc(II)]; [Zn(salen)] as precursor via two methods. Nanosphericals of ZnO has been prepared via thermal decomposition of [Zn(salen)] in the presence of oleylamine at 290 °C for 90 min. Also nanobundle of ZnO has been synthesized via thermolysis of [Zn(salen)] in the air at 500 °C for 5 h. The as-synthesized products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of both nanostructures are dominated by the green emission attributed to the oxygen vacancy ( V O) related donor–acceptor transition. Presence of several infrared (IR) inactive vibrational modes in the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) absorption spectra of the samples indicates a breakdown of translational symmetry in the nanostructures induced by native defects.