Fast synthesis of Cu-doped ZnO nanosheets at ambient condition

A new, fast and low cost method to produce Cu-doped ZnO nanosheets is reported for the first time in this paper. Zinc foil specimens were immersed into CuSO4 aqueous solutions with various concentrations for 3 seconds and then dried at ambient condition. The immersed specimens were characterized with a scanning electron microscope, an X-ray diffractometer and a transmission electron microscope. The results show that Cu-doped ZnO nanosheets with a multilayer structure on a cupper layer are formed. Cu-doped ZnO nanosheets show hexagonal crystalline structure and comprises polycrystalline grains with diameters of 5∼10 nm. A physical modal is suggested to explain the prepared Cu-doped ZnO nanosheet structure, based on the chemical reactions and a metallurgical cell.