Single-crystalline ZnO nanotube arrays on conductive glass substrates by selective disolution of electrodeposited ZnO nanorods

Large-scale and highly oriented single-crystalline ZnO nanotubes on conductive glass substrates have been realized by a two-step solution approach, which involves the electrodeposition of oriented ZnO nanorods and subsequently coordination-assisted selective dissolution along the c-axis to form tubular structure caused by preferential adsorption of ethylenediamine (EDA) and OH- on different crystal faces. After dissolution in aqueous EDA solution for 10-15 h, the inner/outer wall surfaces of the obtained ZnO nanotubes are quite smooth and the wall thickness is uniform in similar to 10-30 nm. Furthermore, a strong near-band gap ultraviolet stimulated emission at a wavelength of 389 nm with a half-maximum of 3 nm is observed at room temperature.