Decorating multiwalled carbon nanotubes with zinc oxide nano-crystallines through hydrothermal growth process

Multiwalled-carbon nanotubes coated with nano-crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) was prepared by in situ growth of nano zinc oxide on the surfaces of carbon nanotubes through hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis techniques were used to characterize the samples. It was observed that a layer of nano-crystalline ZnO with the wurtzite hexagonal crystal structure was uniformly coated on the nanotube surfaces with good adhesion, which resulted in the formation of a novel ZnO-nanotube nano composite. In this work, the carbon nanotubes decorated by metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple chemical-solution route which is suitable for the large-scale production with low cost.