Formation and characterization of flame synthesized hexagonal zinc oxide nanorods for gas sensor applications

Highly crystalline ZnO nanorods were synthesized via a simple flame synthesis technique from micro-metallic Zn. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirms presence of zinc oxide nanorods with highly oriented wurtzite structure in which the oxygen atoms are arranged in a hexagonal close packed lattice and zinc atoms occupy half of the tetrahedral sites. The photoluminescence spectrum of the nanorods shows the presence of interstitial vacancy of Zn. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrum reveals oxygen deficiency, which leads to ferromagnetic behavior and gas sensing property of the nanorods.