Novel low temperature chemical synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanostructures

We report a new and highly efficient method to synthesize zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures having a variety of sizes and shapes. A simple chemical reaction is followed that utilizes the oxidation of metallic zinc in the presence of an appropriate catalyst. This one-step method has advantages such as low temperature and atmospheric pressure synthesis, high yield of more than 90% and excellent optical and crystalline properties of the product. X-ray diffraction pattern of the samples shows hexagonal phase of ZnO with particles size in the range of 60-75 nm. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope images of the ZnO show hexagonal and rod-shaped nanoparticles. UV-visible spectra of the dispersed samples show strong absorption peaks at approximately 378 nm. The photoluminescence spectra show a strong emission peak at approximately 388 nm indicating good optical characteristics. The product formed is found to be dependent on the ratio of the starting materials and on other reaction conditions such as temperature, time etc. This method is suitable for large-scale production of nanosized ZnO and could be extended for the synthesis of other metal oxides, such as MgO etc.