Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Hollow Spherical Structure via Precursor-Template and Formation Mechanism

We report the realization of uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) hollow spherical structure consisting of highly radial and oriented ZnO nanorods, which results from a facile precursor-templated synthesis through thermal evaporation at a relative low temperature without any catalyst. By optimizing the experimental parameters, the obtained results demonstrate that the morphology of ZnO is very sensitive to Zn powder precursor. Detailed structural analyses confirm that this microstructure exhibits a wurtzite hexagonal phase and those nanorods are preferentially oriented along the c -axis direction. The formation mechanism of the microstructure is proposed to be a vapor–solid process. This method may provide a simple and versatile approach to large-scale production of hollow spherical ZnO structure.