Wet chemical growth and optical property of ZnO nanodiscs

We report here a simple wet chemical method to fabricate ZnO nanodiscs. Growth of the nanodiscs occurs at room temperature (35 degrees C) in the reaction between zinc chloride and sodium hydroxide of predetermined concentration. The nanodiscs were structurally characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The diameters of the nanodiscs vary between 300 nm and 500 nm. X-ray diffraction data revealed that the unit cell of the nanodiscs is hexagonal. Room temperature photoluminescence was used to study the optical emission property of the nanodiscs. The nanodiscs exhibit strong PL emission peaked at similar to 420 nm. This singular violet emission from ZnO nanodiscs is a very interesting and rare finding. The PL emission at 420 nm arises due to recombination of electron at zinc interstitials and holes in the valence band. (C) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.