Synthesis of Ultrathin ZnO Nanofibers Aligned on a Zinc Substrate

They're thin, really thin…︁ Aligned ultrathin (3–10 nm) ZnO nanofibers with a length of ≈500 nm in a dense array were synthesized from and on a Zn substrate by hydrothermal treatment of Zn foil in an aqueous ammonia/alcohol solution (see SEM image). The near-band-edge emission is significantly blue-shifted to 373 nm (3.32 eV), thus clearly suggesting quantum confinement effects for these ultrafine nanofibers.