Preparation and growth mechanism of chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters.

With sodium hydroxide (NaOH), ammonia water (NH3 center dot H2O) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT, C6H12N4) respectively as alkaline source material, a simple hydrothermal process was employed to prepare chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters. The morphologies and crystalline structures of the as-prepared products were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission environment scanning electron microscope (SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results indicate that the as-prepared products all have three-dimensional chrysanthemum-like structure in which the petal-like nanowires are ZnO single crystalline with hexagonal wurtzite structure, that the flower bud saturation degree F-d is slightly different under different alkaline source materials, and that the proposed growth mechanism of chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters is reasonable.