Synthesis of Zn1−xMgxO alloyed nanostructures and the crystal evolution in annealing process

The physicochemical properties of ZnO are always determined by its chemical composition and physical form. Here we showed a new type of Mg-alloyed ZnO nanostructures by using templating method. Depending on the molar ratio of ordinary metal salts in the reagents, the Mg contents in Zn1−xMgxO alloyed nanostructures could be controlled precisely with the tunable optoelectronic properties and reached to a maximum value as high as 48%. We found that the Mg contents in the Zn1−xMgxO alloyed nanostructures were evolutive in annealing process and it illustrated that the concentrations of Mg in Zn1−xMgxO had a fixed maximum value after annealing at a corresponding temperature. Moreover, we found the precipitation of MgO in Zn1−xMgxO nanostructures was in specific crystal planes. We demonstrated that this new findings of their crystal growth characteristics can be helpful to understand the alloyed ZnO nanostructures deeply.