Hydrothermal synthesis of phosphate-mediated ZnO nanosheets

ZnO nanosheets were obtained via a simple hydrothermal synthesis in the presence of sodium tripolyphosphate. The formation mechanism and effect of sodium tripolyphosphate concentration on the morphology of ZnO nanosheets have also been reported. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure features and chemical compositions. The results show that the replacement of OH- dangling bond oil ZnO positive polar faces (0001) by PO43- hinders splicing growth of [Zn(OH)(4)](2-) growth units along the [0001] direction, which results in the formation of ZnO nanosheets. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.