During the past decades, numerous achievements concerning luminescent zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been reported due to their improved luminescence and good biocompatibility. The photoluminescence of ZnO NPs usually contains two parts, the exciton-related ultraviolet (UV) emission and the defect-related visible emission. With respect to the visible emission, many routes have been dev...

The current-voltage characteristics of Ni contacts with the surfaces of ZnO thin films as well as single crystal (0001) ZnO substrate are investigated. The ZnO thin film shows a conversion from Ohmic to rectifying behavior when annealed at 800°C. Similar findings are also found on the Zn-polar surface of (0001) ZnO. The O-polar surface, however, only shows Ohmic behavior before and after anneal...

One-dimensional pure zinc oxide (ZnO) and Y-doped ZnO nanorod arrays have been successfully fabricated on the silicon substrate for comparison by a simple hydrothermal process at the low temperature of 90°C. The Y-doped nanorods exhibit the same c-axis-oriented wurtzite hexagonal structure as pure ZnO nanorods. Based on the results of photoluminescence, an enhancement of defect-induced green-ye...

Nanocrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) particles coated with whey protein (WP) were synthesized in the weak basic aqueous solution condition at room temperature. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements confirmed the ZnO/WP nanoscaled composite structure. The average composite granules size was about 300 nm and the embedded ZnO nanoparticles were uniform and...

ZnO nanoparticle array has been fabricated on the Si substrate by a simple thermal chemical vapor transport and condensation without any metal catalysts. This ZnO nanoparticles array is constructed from ZnO quantum dots (QDs), and half-embedded in the amorphous silicon oxide layer on the surface of the Si substrate. The cathodoluminescence measurements showed that there is a pronounced blue-shi...

Herein we demonstrate that intrinsically fluorescent zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) can be adopted for molecularly targeted imaging of cancer cells, after they are functionalized to render water solubility, biocompatibility, and low cellular toxicity. Optical imaging of integrin α(v)β(3) on U87MG human glioblastoma cells was achieved with RGD peptide-conjugated green fluorescent ZnO NWs, whic...

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a promising material which gained increasing interest in recent years owing to its preparation methods and remarkable performances. The paper presents the most common techniques for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles, such as mechanochemical process, precipitation, sol-gel method, solvothermal and hydrothermal processes. Due to their optical, mechanical, chemical and electri...

A variety of hierarchical oxide nanostructures, including ZnO nanonails on nanowires/nanobelts, ZnO nanorods on nanobelts, comb-like ZnO nanostructures, hierarchical MgO nanowires, etc., have been synthesized by thermal vapor evaporation and condensation. Observation of these nanostructures demonstrates the diversity of the geometry of these oxides in the nanoscale range. These nanostructures m...

We report on the development of Ni-shielded ZnO nanorod (NR) structures and the impact of the Ni layer on the ZnO NR properties. We developed nickel-capped zinc oxide nanorod (ZnO/Ni NR) structures by e-beam evaporation of Ni and the subsequent annealing of the ZnO/Ni core/shell nanostructures. The core/shell NRs annealed at 400 °C showed superior crystalline and emission properties. More inter...

Traces of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) used may be found in the liver and kidney. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal viability assay for using with ZnO NPs and to assess their toxicity to human hepatocyte (L02) and human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Cellular morphology, mitochondrial function (MTT assay), and oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde, glutathione (GSH) ...