Synthesis and characterisation of sea urchin-like nanostructures of ZnO on Si (100)

Sea urchin-like nanostructures of ZnO were fabricated on Si (100) by simple oxidation of ZnO films at 600°C consisting of ZnO nanorods. ZnO nanorods having diameter of 40 nm to 80 nm and length of 3 μm to 4 μm as shown by scanning electron microscope (SEM). They are similar in shape with uniform diameter along its entire length with well faceted blunt ends. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that as-grown nanostructures were crystalline with wurtzite hexagonal structures having the major peak at (0002) plane in XRD spectra. UV visible analysis is being done and transmittance data is used for calculating the energy band gap of the grown films. A model for vapour solid (VS) mechanism of ZnO nanorods was presented, in which nucleation of ZnO is crucial for the growth of nanostructures.