Preparation of Nanostructured Zinc Oxide from Single Source Precursors

Nanostructured ZnO was prepared by pyrolysis of single source precursors, ZnCl2(benzsczH)2 and ZnCl2(cinnamsczH)2 (where, benzsczH = benzaldehyde semicarbazone and cinnamsczH = cinnamaldehyde semicarbazone). Powder X-ray diffraction pattern (PXRD) shows formation of hexagonal ZnO. The peak broadening in PXRD and absorption towards blue region in absorption spectra confirms the formation of nanoscale ZnO. The transmission electron microscopy images reveal formation of nanocrystals along with nanorods. The optical band gaps of both the materials were determined by using Tauc's plots. They are found to be higher than the band gap of bulk ZnO. Infrared spectra also showed formation of ZnO.