Liquid phase epitaxial growth and optical property of flower-like ZnO nanosheets on Zinc foil

Large scale flower-like ZnO nanosheets have been synthesized on Zinc foil by a simple hydrothermal method. Their morphology and microstructures were characterized and analyzed by X-ray spectroscopy (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The as-synthesized flower-like nanosheets are hexagonal phase single crystal with 200–300 nm in width, 50 nm in thickness. The growth process follows the liquid phase epitaxial growth mechanism. In this approach, the ZnO buffer is used as substrate for the growth of flower-like ZnO nanosheets. The growth direction of the nanosheets is the preferential [0 0 0 1] growth direction of ZnO. The photoluminescence spectrum of the sample exhibits only a sharp and strong UV emission centered at 386 nm, which indicates that the flower-like ZnO nanosheets on Zn foil are of good optical property.