Effect of Detergent on the ZnO Nanorods Structures Synthesized via the Sol-Gel Method

ZnO is known as an inorganic material that has a variety of morphologies. The morphologies of the ZnO are much influenced by the synthesis route. In this work, two ZnO nanomaterials were prepared by the sol-gel route and the effect of detergent on the morphology and optical band gap of ZnO materials were investigated. The synthesized ZnO materials were characterized using Simultaneous Thermogravimetric Analyzer (STA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). The UV-Vis spectrophotometer is used to determine the optical band gap. The results show that the presence of detergent affected the morphology of the ZnO from nanorods to nano-flakes. The band gap energy of the ZnO were also reduced from 3.14 ev to 2.98 eV from the nanorod to the nanoflakes.