Ordered zinc-vacancy induced Zn0.75Ox nanophase structure

Using transmission electron microscopy, a new nano-phase structure of Zn0.75Ox induced by Zn-vacancy has been discovered to grow on wurtzite ZnO nanobelts. The superstructure grows epitaxial from the { 0 1 ¯ 10 } surface of the wurtzite ZnO nanobelts and can be fitted as an orthorhombic structure, with lattice parameters a′=2a, b ′ ≈ 3 a and c′=c, where a and c are the lattice parameters of ZnO. The superstructured phase is resulted from high-density Zn vacancies orderly distributed in the ZnO matrix. This study provides direct observation about the existence of Zn-vacancies in ZnO.