Facile sonochemical synthesis of zinc oxide nanoflakes at room temperature

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures with controlled morphology have been synthesized by a facile sonochemical method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (cationic surfactant) as a structure directing agent. The influence of surfactant concentration on the evolution of morphology, from starletlike 3D structures to 2D flakes, has been systematically investigated. Room temperature formation of phase-pure ZnO crystals has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Field emissiom scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) reveals the dimensions of ZnO flakes, which are 200-400 nm wide and a few nanometre thick. Molecular fingerprints of the synthesized materials have been obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), while UV-vis spectroscopy estimates the bandgap of ZnO as 3.37 eV. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.