Zinc oxide with different morphologies like stars, multipods, ellipsoids and spikes was synthesized using zinc nitrate and sodium hydroxide in the absence of surfactants. Seed mediation was found to be essential for the formation of ZnO nanospikes. Synthesized ZnO samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis-DRS) and energy dispersive analysis by X-rays (EDAX) techniques. The predominant c-axis growth of hexagonal lattice was observed in ZnO anisotropic particles. TEM analysis revealed the formation of two types of ZnO ellipsoid particles. Concentration of the reactants was found to have a role in controlling the morphology of the resulting ZnO. Mechanism of formation of varying morphologies of ZnO particles has been proposed. © 2011 American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved.

S. Navaladian

Balasubramanian Viswanathan

Anisotropic particles

Ellipsoids

ENERGY DISPERSIVE ANALYSIS

HEXAGONAL LATTICE

Mechanism of formation

MULTIPODS

NANOSPIKES

SODIUM HYDROXIDES

SURFACTANTLESS

TEM analysis

UV-VIS-DRS

UV-VISIBLE DIFFUSE REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

ZINC NITRATES

ZNO PARTICLES

High resolution transmission electron microscopy

Morphology

Scanning electron microscopy

Sodium

Stars

Surface active agents

X ray diffraction

Zinc oxide

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Two wet chemical methods, namely, wet etching (heterogeneous) and chemical precipitation (homogeneous), have been exploited for the formation of hierarchical ZnO architectures without any specific templates, catalysts, or capping agents. As-synthesized ZnO have been extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible absorbance studies, Fourier transform infrared analysis, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays, selected area electron diffraction, photoluminescence (PL), and textural analysis. Wet etching resulted in the formation of self-assembled hexagonal plates with a disordered superlattice-type texture and ultimately ended up in crystallites with high-defect concentration showing a red PL emission. Mechanistic aspects of the growth process in both the methods have been analyzed, and a rational explanation is presented for their observed morphologies. ZnO prepared by both methods have been tested for their photocatalytic water splitting abilities in producing H2. Crystalline, spectral, textural, and activity analyses have been carried out for commercial ZnO for a comparison. Pt loaded ZnO was used for the concurrent hydrogen generation and dinitrogen fixation yielding a maximum of 86 μmol of ammonia/(h/0.1 g of catalyst), thus achieving the activation of N2 at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Heterogeneous wet chemical synthesis of superlattice-type hierarchical ZnO architectures for concurrent H2 production and N2 reduction

CrystEngComm

Room temperature deposition of ultra sharp ZnO nanospike arrays on metallic, non-metallic and flexible carbon fabrics: Efficient field emitters

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Facile Synthesis and Ultraviolet Lasing Properties of ZnO Microtubes

Canadian Journal of Physics

Table of Contents, Rev. Mex. Fis. Volume 56, number 5 / Table des matières, Rev. Mex. Fis. volume 56, numéro 5

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Shape Effect and Shape Control of Polycrystalline Semiconductor Electrodes for Use in Photoelectrochemical Cells

Synthesis of different architectures like stars, multipods, ellipsoids and spikes of zinc oxide by surfactantless precipitation

Journal	Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
ISSN	15334880
Open Access	No