Using transmission electron microscopy, a new nanophase structure of Zn0.75Ox induced by Zn vacancies was found to grow on wurtzite ZnO nanobelts. The superstructure grew epitaxially from the {0¯1▪0} surface of the wurtzite ZnO nanobelts and could be fitted to an orthorhombic structure, with lattice parameters: a’ = 2a, b’ ≈ √3a and c’ = c, where a and c were the lattice parameters of ZnO. The superstructure phase resulted from high-density Zn vacancies orderly distributed in the ZnO matrix. This study provided direct evidence concerning the existence of Zn vacancies in ZnO.

Ordered Zinc-Vacancy Induced Zn0.75Ox Nanophase Structure. Ding, Y., Yang, R., Wang, Z.L.: Solid State Communications, 2006, 138[8], 390-4