Effect of substrates and anions of zinc salts on the morphology of ZnO nanostructures

The ZnO nanostructures were hydrothermally synthesized on glass and Al substrates, respectively, using zinc chloride, zinc nitrate, and zinc acetate as precursor. The as-prepared products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Different ZnO nanostructures were obtained, such as nanorods, nanosheets, flower-like nanostructures and so on. The effects of the substrates and anions of zinc salts on the morphologies of the resulting products have been investigated.