Preparation and Growth Mechanism of Chrysanthemum-Like ZnO Nanowire Clusters

Abstract

With sodium hydroxide (NaOH), ammonia water (NH3 x H2O) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT, C6H12N4) respectively as alkaline source material, a simple hydrothermal process was employed to prepare chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters. The morphologies and crystalline structures of the as-prepared products were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission environment scanning electron microscope (SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results indicate that the as-prepared products all have three-dimensional chrysanthemum-like structure in which the petal-like nanowires are ZnO single crystalline with hexagonal wurtzite structure, that the flower bud saturation degree F(d) is slightly different under different alkaline source materials, and that the proposed growth mechanism of chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters is reasonable.