In Situ Investigation of the Carbothermal Reduction of ZnO Nanowires

Carbothermal reduction is among the oldest chemical processes, commonly used in the production of metals from the corresponding metal oxides or ores (e.g., iron from iron oxides). By using carbon as a reducing agent, decomposition of metal oxides at temperatures much lower than their typical decomposition temperatures can occur. However, a detailed fundamental understanding of such a reaction process, especially on an atomic scale, is still not available [1]. In view of the recent advances in utilizing the carbothermal reduction process to grow metal oxide nanostructures, especially ZnO nanostructures [2], and the interest in developing C/ZnO nanocomposites, we investigated the interaction of carbon with ZnO nanowires (NWs) at elevated temperatures by in situ aberrationcorrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) techniques.