Vertically Aligned Growth of ZnO Nanonails by Nanoparticle-Assisted Pulsed-Laser Ablation Deposition

Vertically aligned ZnO nanonails have been successfully grown on annealed sapphire substrates using catalyst-free nanoparticle-assisted pulsed-laser ablation deposition (NAPLD). The growth behavior of the ZnO nanonails has been investigated by variation of the ablation time, and a three-step growth mechanism for ZnO nanonails is proposed.