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Abstract
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.