Abstract
Zero-dimensional and one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures were fabricated in this research. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized at different temperatures (55 °C, 58 °C and 62 °C) result in different particle size (11 nm, 22 nm and 36 nm for samples synthesized at 55 °C, 58 °C and 62 °C, respectively) and perform different emission colors under UV excitation. According to the particle size analysis, PL spectra and UV-Visible spectra, larger size ZnO nanoparticles have emission and absorbance wavelengths toward red shifted. Time course PL spectra of ZnO nanoparticles demonstrates the stability of ZnO nanoparticles in ethanol solution is only 9 days after synthesized. Capping a PEG polymer outside ZnO nanoparticle core not only makes ZnO nanoparticles dissolved in water, but also successfully stabilized its PL property to further 22 days. Several sets of growing parameters for growing ZnO nanowires by VLS process demonstrated the growing conditions in our furnace system. The factors that would affect the morphology of as-grown ZnO nanowires were studied. Synthesis of ZnO nanorods by aqueous chemical growth method was successfully achieved. The solubility test result of ZnO nanorods demonstrated in this research is diverse from the one which was reported in a published paper. The purpose of this thesis is to synthesize, characterize and study the potential applications of ZnO nanostructures.