Simple approach for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanorods

For the first time, a simple and novel approach has been described for the preparation of zinc oxide nanorods by a simple reaction of zinc metal with water in the temperature range of 50°C-200°C. The diameters of the nanorods are in the range 30 nm to 100 nm with several micrometers in length. The influence of the reaction temperature on the morphologies has been discussed in detail. A plausible mechanism is proposed for the formation of these nanorods and is expected that this synthetic technique can be extended to obtain other metal oxides. The reported method is new, cheap, fast, environmentally benign and free of pollution, which will make it suitable for large scale production.