One-dimensional Growth of Zinc Crystals on a Liquid Surface

The catalyst-free growth of nanocrystals on various substrates at room temperature has been a long-standing goal in the development of material science. We report the growth of one-dimensional zinc nanocrystals on silicone oil surfaces by thermal evaporation method at room temperature (20 $\pm$ 2 $\rm{^\circ C}$). Uniform zinc nanorods with tunable size can be obtained. The typical length and width of the nanorods are 250-500 nm and 20-40 nm, respectively. The growth mechanism can be attributed to the effect of the liquid substrate and the preferential growth direction of the crystals. This result provides a novel and simple way to fabricate the precursors (zinc crystals) for preparation of Zn-based semiconductors and other metallic crystals on liquid substrates.