Rapid synthesis of ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures in large scale and their photoluminescence properties

ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures with uniform ellipsoidal morphologies have been synthesized using different hydroxide anion precursors by an ultra-fast, facile (90 °C) solution-phase method without the assistance of sonication or any surfactants. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Based on the experimental results, a growth mechanism of ZnO nanostructures was proposed. The obtained ZnO nanostructures exhibit a weak UV emission band at ~ 385 nm and a relatively stronger orange emission band at ~ 615 nm. The solution-phase method is simple, convenient for large-scale fabrication of ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures.