A CTAB-assisted hydrothermal and solvothermal synthesis of ZnO nanopowders

ZnO nanopowders were synthesized by hydrothermal and solvothermal method by using CTAB as surfactant, and the effects of CTAB on the morphologies of ZnO nanopowders were investigated. The results showed that the presence of CTAB could greatly vary the shape of the ZnO crystals. ZnO nanorods were prepared from the hydrothermal system without CTAB and flowers-like ZnO nanostructures were produced from hydrothermal system with 0.4 M and 0.5 M CTAB. Low concentration of CTAB in ethanol was conducive to the formation of ZnO nanorods, but the concentration continued to increase, the morphology of sample transformed into hexagonal bipyramid, and then transformed into spherical. The synthesis mechanism of ZnO powders with different morphologies has been presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.