SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CHEMICALLY GROWN ULTRALONG HEXAGONAL ZnO NANOTUBES

Ultralong zinc oxide nanotubes have been synthesized on glass substrate by a simple chemical bath deposition. The nanotubes are hexagonal with the core diameter about similar to 200 nm. The length of the nanotubes was about 10 mu m. No specific alignment of the nanotubes on the glass substrate was observed. The morphology of the nanostructures depends highly on the concentration of zinc acetate solution, duration of mechanical stirring, and temperature during synthesis. Depending upon these experimental conditions nanorods and nanotubes were observed. The material was structurally characterized using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, showing hexagonal unit cell structure. Transmission electron microscopy results revealed that the walls of the nanotubes are hexagonal. Room temperature photoluminescence spectrum shows a strong violet emission at similar to 420 nm from the ZnO nanotubes due to transition between zinc interstitial and zinc vacancy level. These results will be very useful in optoelectronic and nanophotonic device applications.