September Crystal Clear: Crystal Flowers

High-magnification SEM image of flower-like ZnO prepared on ITO glass

This month’s crystal clear is a striking image of what looks like a crystal flower!

In fact this is a high-magnification SEM image of a ZnO microstructure prepared on indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) glass. Ping Yang and co-workers from the University of Jinan published their article in Issue 18 of CrystEngComm.

The team were investigating the growth mechanism of ZnO rods using an environmentally friendly synthesis at 70oC, by decreasing the concentration of NaOH they found they could transform the rods into these remarkable flower-like structures!
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You can read the full details of the groups research, including how to create these impressive crystals, by downloading there article below, which is free to access for 4 weeks!
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Ruixia Shi, Ping Yang, Jianrong Wang, Aiyu Zhang, Yuanna Zhu, Yongqiang Cao and Qian Ma
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 5996-6003
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE25606A
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