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Controlling the Morphology of Polymeric Precursor‐Derived ZnO Flower‐Like Structures
Author(s) -
Choppali Uma,
Gorman Brian P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2006.01437.x
Subject(s) - wurtzite crystal structure , morphology (biology) , nanostructure , crystallite , materials science , spin coating , photoluminescence , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , hexagonal crystal system , zinc , coating , chemistry , crystallography , optoelectronics , metallurgy , genetics , engineering , biology
The study of the mechanisms of formation and growth of ZnO nanostructures is crucial as they have the potential to find applications in opto‐electronic devices. ZnO nanostructures of different morphologies have been synthesized using a low‐temperature polymeric precursor process. Controlling the Zn cation and nitric acid concentrations, flower‐like morphology of the ZnO nanostructures could be synthesized with excellent reproducibility. Besides chemistry, the effects of spin‐coating variables on morphology were also investigated. The results show that the morphology of the flowers is controlled by Zn 2+ ion concentration, whereas spin speed and film thickness are responsible for the size variations. All obtained ZnO structures reveal a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure and strong UV photoluminescence along with lattice defects. Polar surfaces of ZnO promoting multilayer Volmer–Weber growth play a crucial role in the development of these flower‐like structures. Possible mechanisms for variations of morphology with synthesis parameters are discussed.