Optimized Chemical Bath Deposition for Low Cost, Scalable, and Environmentally Sustainable Synthesis of Star-Like ZnO Nanostructures

Abstract This paper highlights an affordable and straightforward method called chemical bath deposition (CBD) for generating different morphologies of ZnO-based nanostructures. In particular, a specific protocol was found to drive the growth versus a high-yield in-plane symmetric six-arm nanostructure, named a nanostar (NS). Each arm of the star consists of a cluster of parallel wires, creating a subnanostructure with a huge surface-to-volume ratio. As-grown NSs present a mixed phase of ZnOHF and ZnO, which converts to ZnO under thermal annealing