Hydrothermal Growth of plate-like ZnO nanostructures: Synthesis and Characterization

In this study, ZnO nanostructures were formed via a hydrothermal reaction mechanism between sodiumhydroxide as anionic and zinc acetate dehydrate as cationic precursors. The effect of reaction conditions including theinitial solution pH, the reaction time and temperature on the nanostructure particle size and morphology wereinvestigated. The formed nanostructures were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder Xraydiffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). According to the results, the morphology of thenanostructures is highly pH-dependent. Plate-like nanostructures were formed using NaOH at pH values around 13regardless of the reaction time or temperature. The precursor concentration could not be considered as an independentparameter per se due to its consequent effect on the pH of the reaction medium which affects morphologies in turn.Results showed that, increasing the reaction time and temperature increased the mean particle size of the nanostructureswith no change in their morphology.

Keywords:

Zinc Oxide , Nanostructures , Hydrothermal reaction , Morphology