Aqueous phase approach to ZnO microspindles at low temperature

ZnO microspindles with average diameter of 200 nm and length of about 1 μm have been successfully synthesized via a simple solution route at low temperature. The morphologies, crystal structure, chemical compositions of the products are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the as-synthesized ZnO microspindles are single crystals with wurtzite structure and with the preferred [0 0 0 1] growth direction. A strong visible emission centered at 423 nm and a weak emission at 484 nm were observed, which may be due to the defects associated to the structures. ZnO microspindles prepared here may find potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic fields.