Hydrothermal synthesis of single-crystalline hexagonal prism ZnO nanorods

In the present work, single-crystalline hexagonal prism ZnO nanorods have been successfully synthesized via a PEG-assisted hydrothermal route at 140 °C. The structure of the products has been characterized by XRD. TEM and SEM images indicated that the as-synthesized nanorods are wurtzite ZnO with diameters ranging from 60 to 120 nm and lengths of hundreds of nanometers. The smooth prismatic side planes and tips of the rods have been observed. The results also show that short-chain polymer PEG plays a crucial role in the formation of 1D ZnO nanostructures. This facile, reproducible, and effective low-cost approach should promise us a future large-scale synthesis of ZnO nanostructures for many important applications in nanotechnology.