Improved field emission and photocatalysis properties of cacti-like zinc oxide nanostructures

ZnO nanostructures comprising highly c-axis oriented cacti-like nanostructures were synthesized via a simple chemical route. Branches emanated from primary microneedles that are tapered in shape with a tip diameter of ∼3 nm, and resulted in improved field emission and photocatalysis properties, with a turn-on field of 2.13 V cm−1 and a kinetic rate constant of 0.048 min−1. These values were found to be improved compared to those for the reported branching nanostructures. Therefore, these nanostructures are promising for display and photocatalysis devices.

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