Ambient condition oxidation of zinc foil in supersaturated solution for shape tailored ZnO nanostructures: low cost candidates for efficient electron emitter and UV-detector

A well-ordered array of ZnO nanostructures is realized by a one pot ambient condition approach where the nanoforms are spontaneously formed over zinc foil in alkaline supersaturated solution containing zinc salt. Shape of nanostructure, a key issue for practical application, can be tailored by only manipulating the counter anion of the zinc salt used. The synthesized array nanostructures exhibit great promise for their application as electron field emitters as well as UV photo-detectors. A comparative study reveals that nanospikes having emission beneficial ultra-sharp tips with large inter-tip separation, shows the highest field emission current. Nanowire arrays with high surface defect constitution were observed to show the highest photocurrent gains as high as 1.1 × 103. Nanostructures organized over substrate for direct integration into nanodevices and their performance optimization through structure tailoring will be boosted by this chemical method.