Comprehensive study of the templating effect on the ZnO nanostructure formation within porous hard membranes

ZnO nanowires were synthesized by combining the template-assisted method with three different ZnO growth approaches, i.e. sol-gel, aqueous chemical growth, and electrodeposition. We obtained nanostructures of 200, 50, and even 5 nm diameter in porous alumina and ordered mesoporous silica membranes, showing effective filling of the template channels and the formation of oriented ZnO nanostructures.