Synthesized zinc oxide nano rods and flowers studies for optical, di-electrical and photocatalytic applications

Abstract

ZnO being most avid semiconductor metal oxide with a wide band gap of 3.37 eV. ZnO nanostructures were synthesized in the shape of nano rods and flowers to finds their proficiency in the field of photocatalysis and photovoltaics. ZnO nanostructures were investigated in the shape of nano rods and flowers by, X Ray Diffractometer (XRD) confirms pure hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images showed high crystalline morphology and the formation of nano rods and flowers. Ultraviolet and Photoluminescence (PL) study confirms the absorption at 375, 371 nm for ZnO rods and flower which leads to an increase in the band gap and the peak observed at the violet, blue and green emission. The peaks shift is due to increase in defect in flower nanostructures of ZnO, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) calculated the average particles size 617 and 823 nm for rods and flower respectively. Conductivity analysis prove that nano flowers are more conductive having more defects and large number of photocatalytic active sites and large number of electron-hole pairs make best suited for photocatalytic specie. Thus, ZnO nano flowers were observed ideal for photocatalysis and photovoltaic applications due its large number of active sites and defects.