LAUSR

Abstract ZnO microstructures were synthesized by conventional and homogenous precipitation methods utilizing ammonium hydroxide and urea as precipitation agents, respectively. Maximum synthesis temperature was around 90 °C for 10 and 13 h. XRD indicates the presence of ZnO wurtzite hexagonal structure and FTIR results suggests that all samples possess similar functional groups whereas an increment in the calcination time increases the Zn-O band intensity at ∼550 cm−1 confirming the formation of ZnO. Morphological analysis evidences ZnO nuts and needle like morphologies for samples calcined at 13 h with urea and ammonia as precipitation agents, correspondingly. Growth mechanism of ZnO porous structures at different calcination temperatures and precipitation agents are reported in this work.