Mechanisms of Self-Catalyst Growth of Agave-like Zinc Oxide Nanostructures on Amorphous Carbons

Agave-like zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays are self-assembled on amorphous carbons using thermal chemical vapor transport and condensation without any metal catalysts. Experimentally, a study is performed to clarify the nucleation and growth of the unique nanostructures. Theoretically, a thermodynamic approach is proposed to address the self-assembly of agave-like ZnO nanowires on amorphous carbons. It is found that the physical and chemical origin of the nucleation aggregation and radial growth of agave-like ZnO nanowires is the immiscibility in the ZnO−carbon system.