One-step method for growing of large scale ZnO nanowires on zinc foil

• A facile and large-scale synthesis method to fabricate ZnO nanowires was developed.
• The obtained ZnO nanowires showed a pure hexagonal phase.
• The room temperature PL of the ZnO nanowires exhibited strong UV emission at 382 nm.
• The growth process of ZnO nanowires at different intervals was systematically investigated.

Large scale ZnO nanowires were grown on the zinc foil substrate by a novel and facile hydrothermal method at low temperature. The obtained ZnO nanowires were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL). It is shown that the as-grown ZnO nanowires have a very good crystallinity with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The room temperature PL of the ZnO nanowires is also studied, which exhibited strong ultraviolet (UV) emission at 382 nm. In addition, the possible formation process of these ZnO nanowires at different intervals is presented. The applied method can be used as a promising, simple and fast option for large scale production of ZnO nanowires.

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