Controllable growth of zinc oxide micro- and nanocrystals by oxidization of Zn–Cu alloy

A simple and fast, controllable gas vaporization of alloy method for producing various micro- and nanostructures of ZnO in air atmosphere with a large yield was presented in this paper. The presence of Cu was proved to strongly affect the growth morphology of the synthesized ZnO through the control of the partial pressure of zinc, which could be fulfilled by changing the composition of Zn and Cu for the used reactants. Given the simplicity of the procedure, and the economic advantages, the method described here is likely to be of interest in industrial-scale applications.