A facile shape-selective growth of ZnO nanotips and graded nanowires from its oriented nanorods in a saturated ZnS solution

Abstract

A facile solution-based route is developed for the preparation of distinctive ZnO nanostructures via a dissolution-growth of ZnO nanorods in a saturated ZnS solution at a water-bath temperature of 95 °C. In the dissolution-growth process, a series of novel morphologies including nanotips, tapered and graded nanowires can be conveniently achieved by simply changing the heating time. The pointed ends of the nanotips have a diameter of several nanometers, and the graded nanowires have a gradient change in diameter from a few to tens of nanometers along the longitudinal direction with the size of the thin end matching the Bohr exciton radius of ZnO. Furthermore, the formation mechanism from the ZnO nanorods to the nanotips, to the tapered and graded nanowires is discussed based on shape-evolution observations.

Identifying and rationalizing the morphological, structural, and optical properties of β-Ag2MoO4 microcrystals, and the formation process of Ag nanoparticles on their surfaces: combining experimental data and first-principles calculations

“…Nanocrystals can be grown in a variety of shapes and morphologies through the modification of surface energies of facets via adjustment of the experimental parameters, such as surfactant, and solvent choice. Therefore, control of structure and morphology is of great interest in the development of complex functional materials with customized features [ 67 – 71 ].…”

Ethylenediamine-Mediated Wurtzite Phase Formation in ZnS

“…A simultaneous control of structure and morphology of semiconductor nanocrystallites provides opportunities to tune and explore their optical properties. Therefore, structure and morphology control is of great interest in the development of semiconductor nanocrystals. − …”

The Effect of Cooling Rate During the Hydrothermal Growth on the Tip Geometry of ZnO Nanorods

“…For the hydrothermal growth, low temperature and solution-phase synthesis has the potential for low cost and industrial-scale fabrication. Various solution-phase reactions have been reported for fabricating ZnO nanotips [3,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The method has proved to be particularly attractive for minimal equipment requirement, low thermal budget, large scale growth, and low selectivity of substrate.…”