ZnO Hierarchical Micro/Nanoarchitectures: Solvothermal Synthesis and Structurally Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract A novel ZnO hierarchical micro/nanoarchitecture is fabricated by a facile solvothermal approach in an aqueous solution of ethylenediamine (EDA). This complex architecture is of a core/shell structure, composed of dense nanosheet‐built networks that stand on a hexagonal‐pyramid‐like microcrystal (core part). The ZnO hexagonal micropyramid has external surfaces that consist of a basal plane (000 ${\bar 1}$ ) and lateral planes {0 ${\bar 1}$ 11}. The nanosheets are a uniform thickness of about 10 nm and have a single‐crystal structure with sheet‐planar surfaces as {2 ${\bar 1}\,{\bar 1}$ 0} planes. These nanosheets interlace and overlap each other with an angle of 60° or 120°, and assemble into a…