Ten years' venturing in ZnO nanostructures: from discovery to scientific understanding and to technology applications

Zinc oxide is a unique material that exhibits semiconducting, piezoelectric and pyroelectric multiple properties. Nanostructures of ZnO are equally important as carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires (NWs) for nanotechnology, and have great potential applications in nano-electronics, optoelectronics, sensors, field emission, light emitting diodes, photocatalysis, nanogenerators, and nanopiezotronics. Ever since the discovery of nanobelts (NBs) in 2001 by my group, a world wide research in ZnO has been kicked off. This review introduces my group's experience in venturing the discovery, understanding and applications of ZnO NWs and NBs. The aim is to introduce the progress made in my research in the last 10 years in accompany to the huge social advances and economic development taking place in China in the last 10 years.