Preparation and characterization of short length ZnO nanorods and ZnO@ZnS core–shell nanostructures

Short length ZnO nanorods with uniform diameter have been synthesized by a solid state reaction method using Zinc acetate as precursor. This is a larger scale production and inexpensively synthesized method without any templates or additives. ZnO@ZnS core–shell nanostructures were successfully fabricated by sulfidation of ZnO nanorods via a facile chemical synthesis. The as-obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis absorption, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), fluorescence spectrophotometer (PL) and Fourier Transformed Infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the pure ZnO nanorods were hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure and the ZnS tube like structure is cubic structure grown on the surface of the ZnO nanorods. The optical band gap was found to be increased with increasing sulfidation process. The measurement of luminescence revealed that ZnO@ZnS core–shell structure integrated the luminescent effect of ZnO and ZnS. The broad blue emission of ZnO@ZnS core–shell was dramatically changed. The FTIR spectra were studied to find the role of organic impurities trapped inside the material.