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ZnO nanoforms: The state-of-the art of synthetic strategies

Nanotechnology has already made indelible dents in the fields of communication, computation, electronics, photonics, gas sensors, diagnostic technologies, catalysis, drug delivery systems and imaging. In particular, ZnO nanostructures have attracted a lot of research interest due to their unique structure- and size-dependent electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. ZnO nanosystems are abundant with respect to a wide variety of morphologies whose syntheses are critically dependent on several experimental parameters. Cursory presentation of the immense potential of these tiny systems and the state-of-the-art of the synthetic methodologies along with our initial research on ZnO nanorods has been presented. ZnO nanorods in the size range 50-150nm have been synthesized by solid-state route by heating zinc acetate with caustic soda under specific growth conditions. X-ray diffraction pattern unequivocally establishes a wurtzite structure. Scanning electron microscope images of ZnO nanorods display a random distribution of non-uniform size ranges. The manipulation of ZnO nanosystems by fine tuning the critical band gap of this unique semiconductor by doping with divalent transition metal ions leading to novel nanosystems to enhance the performance of the electronic devices is our extended area of research.