Synthesis And Characterization Of Flower-Like ZnO Nanostructures Via Flower-Like ZnOHF Intermediate

As a kind of semiconductor materials, Zinc oxide (ZnO) has exciton binding energy of60meV and wide bandgap (3.37eV). The research about ZnO nanostructures is one of current hot topics. It has broad application prospect in chemical sensors, photocatalyst, surface acoustic wave devices and so on. The study about ZnO nanostructures are very extensive. Various ZnO nanostructures, including nanoparticles, nanowires, nanorods and nanotubes have been fabricated. These ZnO nanostructures provide a good foundation for the application of the ZnO.We present a simple method for the synthesis of flower-like ZnO nanostructures by annealing flower-like ZnOHF nanostructures, which were prepared via a hydrothermal route. Flower-like ZnO nanostructures were successfully obtained by annealing flower-like ZnOHF. The surface morphology and microstructure of these as-prepared ZnO nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optical property of the prepared flower-like ZnO nanostructures was investigated by room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well. The SEM Shows that the intermediate ZnOHF nanostructures consisted of microrods with the average length of3μm. Similar to the intermediate of ZnOHF, the morphology of the obtained sample is ’retained after the heat treatment at400℃. During the process of calcination, the intermediate ZnOHF nanostructures release HF gas, so the surface of the microrods has many defects. The PL spectra confirmed that ZnO flower-like nanostructures exhibited emission band centered at382nm in UV region, which came from the characteristic emission of ZnO. Meanwhile, weak and broad emission peak centered at about540nm, which may be come from the defects existed in ZnO nanostructures.ZnO nanostructures have better photocatalytic degradation under the irradiation of sunlight. Good photocatalytic performance can directly use the sun and light source to purify environment. Combined with previous research results, this paper briefly describes the synthesis of nanopieces and porous microball and its possible application in the field of photocatalysis.