From one nanobelt precursor to different ZnO nano/micro structures: porous nanobelts self-standing film and microtubes

Abstract

By heating a simple system only composed of zinc acetate, hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) and water at 50 °C, layered basic zinc salt (LBZS) nanobelts were fabricated. The nanobelts could form a self-standing film by vacuum filtration, and then the film was transformed into a porous ZnO self-standing film by calcining at 200 °C. If the LBZS precursor was heated at 90 °C or 500 °C directly, ZnO microtubes or bottle like microstructures were obtained, respectively. By taking advantage of formaldehyde and ammonium, two products of HMT hydrolysis, Ag nanoparticles were deposited on the nanobelts to form an LBZS/Ag composite film. In the following calcination at 200 °C, a ZnO/Ag nanocomposite self-standing film was produced. The ZnO/Ag nanocomposite film exhibited a much higher photocatalytical ability than the pure ZnO film and other ZnO microstructures.