Characterization of ZnO flowers of hexagonal prisms with planar and hexagonal pyramid tips grown on Zn substrates by a hydrothermal process

Abstract

Flower-like ZnO crystals on zinc substrates were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method in different solutions containing 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40 g LiOH. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) showed that the products were wurtzite hexagonal ZnO flowers, composed of single crystalline hexagonal prisms grown along the [0 0 0 1] direction with planar and hexagonal pyramid tips, including the Zn-O stretching vibration at 411.5 cm-1. Photoluminescence (PL), excited by a 215 nm wavelength at room temperature, exhibited strong green emission at 543 nm. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.