Single-crystalline ZnO nanowire bundles: Synthesis, mechanism and their application in dielectric composites

Single-crystalline ZnO nanowire bundles have been synthesized in large-scale by an improved microemulsion method in the presence of excessive hydrate hydrazine and dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid sodium salt (DBS) in xylene. The product is characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The result shows that the bundle is composed by many oriented single-crystalline ZnO nanowires with a length of about 1 μm and a diameter of about 20-30 nm. The influence of DBS, hydrazine and the reaction time on the morphology of final product and the formation mechanism of such nanostructures were discussed; the application in the dielectric composites is also studied.