Description

• General description: Zinc oxide is a wide-band-gap semiconductor having various technological applications. It is known to exhibit n-type conductivity.[1] It has semiconducting and piezoelectric dual properties. Its structure has number of alternating planes composed of tetrahedrally coordinated O2- and Zn2+ ions, stacked alternately along the c-axis. This tetrahedral coordination in ZnO is responsible for its noncentral symmetric structure and consequently imparts piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. Nanocombs, nanorings, nanohelixes/nanosprings, nanobelts, nanowires and nanocages of ZnO have been synthesized by a solid-vapor phase thermal sublimation technique.[2]Zinc oxide nanoparticles can serve as potential agents to suppress anti-cancer cells and also find applications in drug delivery.[3] They can also act like metal oxide semiconductor nanomaterials in solar cells.[4]
• Application: Zinc oxide may be employed as catalyst to investigate the mechanism of methanol synthesis.[5] It has various semiconductor device and phosphor applications.4