Over the past few decades, various shapes of ZnO have been synthesized using variety of techniques. However, mechanistic insights into the growth mechanisms of different shape nanostructures are still not completely unveiled. In this work, we report the development of a facile method to produce sea urchin (SU) shaped ZnO nanostructures and to study the growth mechanism of these novel nanostructures. The synthesis of the SU shaped ZnO nanostructures starts with ZnO seed clusters in ethanol followed by slow growth in an equimolar aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)2.6H2O and hexamethylenetetramine. The growth of the ZnO seed clusters and the development of the SU shaped nanostructures are monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and TEM imaging at different growth times. The seed nanoclusters act as nucleation sites for the growth of the ZnO rods along the [0001] direction. At longer time, the rods aggregate to form the SU shaped nanostructures. The photocatalytic activity of the SU nanostructures for the photodegradation of the organic dye, rhodamine B is found to be significantly higher than that of the ZnO nanorods synthesized using the same preparation method but in the presence of the capping agent CTAB. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the SU nanostructures is attributed to large surface area and high porosity.

Growth mechanism of ‘sea urchin’ shaped ZnO nanostructures and their photocatalytic activity in the degradation of organic dyes

254th National Meeting (2017)

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