Fabrication of ultrathin CuO nanowires augmenting oriented attachment crystal growth directed self-assembly of Cu(OH) colloidal nanocrystals.

Augmenting the oriented attachment (OA) crystal growth phenomena, herein, we demonstrate fabrication of ultrathin CuO nanowires from self-assembled one-dimensional (1D) nanowires of Cu(OH) nanocrystals. A facile environmentally benign sol-gel approach, which utilizes base-catalyzed hydrolysis followed by directed self-assembly and crystal growth of nanocrystals, is developed to prepare Cu(OH) nanowires. The sol of Cu(OH) nanocrystals shows aggregative self-assembly guided by the OA crystal growth process to form ultrathin Cu(OH) nanowires, with an average length of 675 ± 4 nm and diameter of 6 ± 2 nm.

A sol-gel synthesis to prepare size and shape-controlled mesoporous nanostructures of binary (II-VI) metal oxides.

A base-catalyzed sol-gel approach combined with a solvent-driven self-assembly process at low temperature is augmented to make manganese oxide (MnO), copper oxide (CuO), and magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)) nanostructures with size- and shape-controlled morphologies. Nanostructures of MnO with either hexagonal, irregular particle, or ribbon shape morphologies with an average diameter ranged from 100 to 200 nm have been prepared in four different solvent types. In all morphologies of MnO, the experimental XRD patterns have indexed the nanocrystal unit cell structure to triclinic.

Band gap engineered zinc oxide nanostructures a sol-gel synthesis of solvent driven shape-controlled crystal growth.

A reliable sol-gel approach, which combines the formation of ZnO nanocrystals and a solvent driven, shape-controlled, crystal-growth process to form well-organized ZnO nanostructures at low temperature is presented. The sol of ZnO nanocrystals showed shape-controlled crystal growth with respect to the solvent type, resulting in either nanorods, nanoparticles, or nanoslates. The solvothermal process, along with the solvent polarity facilitate the shape-controlled crystal growth process, augmenting the concept of a selective adhesion of solvents onto crystal facets and controlling the final shape of the nanostructures.