Chirality Synthesis of N-Shaped ZnO Nanorods by Glacial Acetic Acid Assisted Annealing Process and Ethanol Sensing Properties

N-shaped ZnO nanorods were first chirality synthesized by glacial acetic acid assisted annealing process. X-ray powder diffraction results show that these nanorods are of ZnO wurtzite-structure. These nanorods grow from a thin platelet base and are parallel to each other to form n-shaped ZnO nanorods. The width of thin platelet bases range from 50 to 130 nm. The diameters of the nanorods rang from 25 to 60nm, and their lengths are 0.2—0.6um. Gas sensors fabricated from these n-shaped ZnO nanorods show a very high sensitivity to ethanol gas and the sensitivity is up to about 35 against 1000 ppm ethanol gas at the operating temperature of 300°C.