Investigations of ZnO nanostructures grown on patterned sapphire using different precursors in aqueous solutions

► ZnO nanostructures are grown using zinc acetate and zinc nitrate as precursors on patterned sapphire substrate by aqueous method. ► It has been found that the distinct surface morphologies of ZnO nanostructures grown by different precursors. ► Both ZnO samples show remarkable photocatalytic activity, in particular, ZnO nanoflowers arrays exhibit an outstanding photocatalytic activity.