Vibrational order, structural properties, and optical gap of ZnO nanostructures sintered through thermal decomposition

Abstract

The sintering of different ZnO nanostructures by the thermal decomposition of zinc acetate is reported. Morphological changes from nanorods to nanoparticles are exhibited with the increase of the decomposition temperature from 300 to 500°C. The material showed a loss in the crystalline order with the increase in the temperature, which is correlated to the loss of oxygen due to the low heating rate used. Nanoparticles have a greater vibrational freedom than nanorods which is demonstrated in the rise of the main Raman mode E 2 (high) during the transformation. The energy band gap of the nanostructured material is lower than the ZnO bulk material and decreases with the rise in the temperature.