Optical properties and formation mechanism of radial ZnO hexagonal nanoprism clusters

Radial ZnO clusters have been synthesized in a large-scale by a simple microemulsion method using sulfonate-polystyrene (S-PS) as a template. The clusters are formed by the radial growth of ZnO hexagonal nanorods. The product is characterized by using XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, and photoluminescence spectra (PL). Furthermore, the SEM images indicate that the radial ZnO structures possess hexagonal prisms structures. On the meanwhile, FT-IR spectrum reveals that S-PS is present in the radial ZnO nanostructures, and the PL spectrum shows a sharp UV emission. As a result, the formation mechanism of the radial ZnO nanostructures has been proposed.