Molten salt route toward the growth of ZnO nanowires in unusual growth directions.
ZnO nanowires with unusual growth directions, such as the approximate 102 and the 100 directions, were prepared by using the LiCl molten salt synthetic method. Intrinsic crystallographic structures and the growth directions of the as-prepared ZnO nanowires were investigated by using selected area electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. In the present case, Li+ and Cl- ions of molten salts may bind with O2- and Zn2+ ions, respectively, of the {101} and {001} polar surfaces of the ZnO crystals, resulting in the decrease of their surface energies and tuning the growth directions by blocking the growth on the polar surfaces. A combination of the growth along the <102>, <100>, and <210> directions may lead to the formation of complex tree like ZnO dendrites. Strong green light emission was observed from room-temperature PL spectra of the as-prepared ZnO nanowires. This molten-salt synthetic process could be extended to synthesize other kinds of unusual 1D nanomaterials with specific crystal structures and properties.
Jiang
Zhi-Yuan
ZY
State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces & Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
Xu
Tao
T
Xie
Zhao-Xiong
ZX
Lin
Zhi-Wei
ZW
Zhou
Xi
X
Xu
Xin
X
Huang
Rong-Bin
RB
Zheng
Lan-Sun
LS