Fast and one-step synthesis of small ZnO nano-tetrapods Using CO₂ laser in ambient air: physical properties

Abstract

A simple method of laser ablation was developed to synthesis small nano-tetrapods as a fast and one-step process. The used laser was CO2 laser with 10.6µm of wavelength. The produced samples in two states showed two different morphologies: nano-rods and nano-tetrapods. Optical, structural, and morphological properties were studied by performing room-temperature scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Dynamics Light Scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and UV-visible analysis. FESEM analysis shows that the produced ZnO nano-tetrapods diameters are approximately 10-13 nm by arm length about 250 nm with excellent morphologies. XRD determines that the nano-particles are in phase with pure ZnO and both morphologies have the Hexagonal wurtzite. Two high peak in photoluminescence spectrum were observed on UV and visible spectrums. UV-Vis spectral of dispersed samples on deionized water determined that nano-rods and nano-terapods have peaks on 374nm and 370 nm, respectively. Therefore, results shows the capability of introduced method to access two different morphologies of ZnO in two states and significantly achieving the nano-tetrapods structure by laser ablation.