A low-temperature synthesis of multiwhisker-based zinc oxide micron crystals

A convenient wet chemical method has been developed to synthesize flower-like ZnO micron-size structures composed of whiskers in large quantities at 60 degrees C for 24 h, employing Zn(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O, NH3 center dot H2O as the starting materials in the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and CS2. XRD result proves the formation of ZnO with wurtzite structure. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns confirm that the product is single crystal nature. The observations from SEM and TEM reveal that two kinds of products with diameter of micron size, having spheral symmetry and circumferential symmetry, are produced. The possible growth mechanism of the assembled architecture is proposed. It is found that PEG and CS2 play important roles in the morphological and structural control of ZnO microncrystallites. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.