A simple and novel route for the preparation of ZnO nanorods

Synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods was achieved by thermal decomposition of the precursor of ZnC2O4 obtained via chemical reaction between Zn(CH3COO)2·2H2O and H2C2O4·2H2O in the presence of surfactant nonyl phenyl ether (9)/(5) and NaCl flux. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure features and chemical compositions of the as-made nanorods. The results showed that the as-prepared nanorods are composed of ZnO with diameter of 10–60 nm, and lengths ranging from 1 to 3 μm. The mechanism of formation of ZnO nanorods is also discussed.