An ambient condition, one pot route for large scale production of ultrafine (<15 nm) ZnO nanowires from commercial zinc exhibiting excellent recyclable catalytic performance: Approach extendable to CuO nanostructures

A one pot synthesis strategy has been demonstrated for the production of ultraslim (<15 nm) zinc oxide nanowires from commercial zinc powder at completely ambient conditions. The nanowire yield in a single synthesis run remains in the gram scale. Dynamic release of zinc ions in a highly alkaline oxidative environment from zinc powder serves as the source for nanowire growth, where the intrinsic anisotropic crystal growth habit of zinc oxide plays a pivotal role during the growth process. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopic investigation reveals that the nanowires are rich with oxygen vacancies, having singly and doubly ionized charge states. Environmental remediation through photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanowires was investigated taking two different commercial dyes (Rhodamine B and Orange II) as the model contaminants. The exhibited high photocatalytic performance by the nanowire sample is linked with their high surface area as well as large surface oxygen vacancy content. 3D flower-like hierarchical structures composed of copper oxide nano-leaves were also obtained employing the same growth plan, evidencing the versatility of the synthesis technique.