Studies on ZnO Nanorods Synthesized by Hydrothermal Method and their Characterization

Abstract

ZnO nanorods, with a wide band gap of 3.37 eV have been attracting much attention due to its wide range of applications. Looking to this aspect in the present paper, ZnO nanorods were synthesized by hydrothermal method at 120 C for 2 hrs in an autoclave by using zinc acetate and sodium hydroxide as the starting materials. The final product obtained was then characterized by Energy Dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and Raman Spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra showed that ZnO nanorods are belonging to wurtzite structure without any impurity phases. The ZnO nanorods shows polycrystalline behaviour as observed from SAED pattern and the calculated lattice parameters from this pattern which matches with the XRD results.The optical properties of the ZnO nanorods were then further studied with the help of absorption, photoluminescence (PL) and FTIR spectra. The optical energy band gap determined from the absorption spectra comes about 3.33 eV. In the photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanorods the UV emission appears at 380 nm and strong blue emission appears at 445 nm. FTIR spectra indicate the existence of distinct characteristic absorption peak at 520 cm – 1 for ZnO stretching modes. The potential toxicity of nanosized ZnO nanorods were investigated using Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marceseus and Proteus vulgaris bacteria as test organism. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/35602