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The effect of annealing temperature on hydrothermally grown sisal-like ZnO microstructures

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Abstract

This study has extensively described the fabrication and characterization of sisal-like ZnO microstructures. HMT aqueous solution containing zinc nitrate tetrahydrate as crystalline zinc source has been utilized to synthesize sisal-like ZnO samples via a controlled hydrothermal route. A variety of characterization techniques including FESEM, XRD, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy have been employed to investigate the effects related to varying annealing temperatures on morphological and structural properties. The FESEM observations have revealed a transition from hexagonal microrods to modified microrods and then to pointed microrods for sisal-like ZnO architectures as the annealing temperature increases. XRD results have indicated a considerably high purity for as-synthesized ZnO microstructures. The crystalline quantities of ZnO samples have been estimated using various X-ray line-broadening analysis methods including Debye-Scherrer and Williamson-Hall techniques. UV-Vis DRS measurements have been carried out to study optical properties. Results have shown improved light harvesting related to both enhanced absorption intensities and decreased band-gap energies with the increase of annealing temperatures.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Research Council for their generous support of this work.

Funding

The current study was partially supported by the Ahvaz Branch of Islamic Azad University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Ahvaz, Iran

    Azadeh Haghighatzadeh, Mahsa Hosseini, Soheila Haghighi & Marzeh Ataie Dil

  2. Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University, Khouzestan Science and Research Branch, Ahvaz, Iran

    Mahsa Hosseini & Marzeh Ataie Dil

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  1. Azadeh Haghighatzadeh
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Haghighatzadeh, A., Hosseini, M., Haghighi, S. et al. The effect of annealing temperature on hydrothermally grown sisal-like ZnO microstructures. J Aust Ceram Soc 57, 993–1002 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41779-021-00602-4

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