A new zinc hydroxy acetate hydrogen carbonate lamellar phase for growing large and clean ZnO nanorod arrays.

A novel zinc hydroxy acetate hydrogen carbonate Zn5(OH)8.2(CH3COO)(HCO3)0.8·1.9H2O, isomorphous to Zn5(OH)8(CH3COO)2·xH2O, has been obtained by the reaction of zinc acetate dihydrate in aged ethylenediamine. This phase allows the growth of large arrays of oriented and crystallized nanorods up to 8 µm in length on a substrate, without crystallization of additional particles.