Growth of a seven pointed star shaped of vertical and uniform ZnO nanostructures on optical fiber via catalyst-free VLS mechanisms

In this paper, the growths of ZnO nano- and microstructures by VLS mechanism have been studied. A piece of silica fiber (SMF-28 optical fiber) was used as a substrate. By controlling the experimental conditions, nano- and microstructures of ZnO with different shapes and sizes were grown around the optical fiber, which can be used as an optical fiber sensor. A star-shaped ZnO microstructure was obtained in this research. Pyramidal structures were grown on each side of vertical hexagonal microrods which formed the seven-pointed star-shaped microstructures. This growth process was carried out in a special quartz container in a tube furnace at temperatures around 400–550 °C without any additional catalyst. XRD, SEM and PL spectroscopy were used for the characterization of the produced nanostructures. The influence of temperature, reactant and carrier gases flow rate on the morphology of ZnO nanostructure was investigated.