Low-temperature growth of well-aligned ZnO nanorods/nanowires on flexible graphite sheet and their photoluminescence properties

We have grown large-scale well-aligned ZnO nanorods/nanowires on commercial flexible graphite sheet (FGS) at low temperature via chemical vapor deposition method. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The effects of the growth temperature and oxygen flow rate on the morphology of ZnO nanostructures have been investigated. The growth mechanism of ZnO is found to be a self-catalytic vapor–solid process assisted by the immiscibility of ZnO with graphite. The as-grown ZnO/FGS products show strong green emission and their photoluminescence properties can be tuned by changing growth condition or annealing treatment.

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► Well-aligned ZnO nanostructures were grown on flexible graphite sheets at 500–650 °C.
► ZnO nanostructures are formed via self-catalytic vapor–solid process assisted by immiscibility of ZnO with graphite.
► The ZnO nanostructures show intensive green emission.
► The photoluminescence property can be easily tuned by changing growth condition or annealing treatment.