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The influence of the high surface-to-volume ratio of ZnO nanomaterials, whose sizes are large enough to exclude the quantum effect, on electronic properties was investigated by spatially resolved valence electron energy loss spectroscopy. ZnO nanowires, nanoplates, and nanotubes with different sizes were fabricated and characterized. Both the reduced volume and the increased surface area of the large ZnO nanomaterials were found to be able to modify electronic properties significantly. Hence, a nanoplate and a nanotube with very small volumes show unique energy loss functions and dielectric functions different from those of bulk ZnO at all the probe points. On the other hand, a nanowire with a relatively large diameter (70 nm) has electronic properties similar to those of bulk ZnO at the center. However, they are dissimilar at the edge of the nanowire due to the component of surface parallel to the electron path and the reduced interaction volume. Moreover, some interband transitions shift positions and bulk plasmons change oscillator strength depending upon the size of the volume and the geometry of the surface. These empirical results demonstrate that semiconducting nanomaterials larger than the exciton Bohr radius can still behave differently from bulk materials due to the high ratio between surface area and volume.

Wire- and belt-like single-crystalline titanium dioxide nanostructures were synthesized by using a simple thermal annealing method, which has often been avoided for the synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures from high melting point metals such as Ti. The synthesis method requires neither high reaction temperature nor complicated reaction processes, and can be used for producing dense nanomaterials with relatively short reaction time at temperatures much lower than the melting point of titanium and titanium dioxide. Key synthesis factors including the choice of eutectic catalyst, growth temperature, and annealing time were systematically investigated. The synthesis reaction was promoted by a copper eutectic catalyst, producing long nanostructures with short reaction times. For example, it was observed that only 30 min of annealing time at 850 degrees C was enough to produce densely grown approximately 10 microm long nanowires with diameters of approximately 100 nm, and longer reaction time brought about morphology changes from wires to belts as well as producing longer nanostructures up to approximately 30 microm. The nanostructures have the crystalline rutile structure along the [Formula: see text] growth direction. Finally, our simple and effective method for the synthesis of TiO2 nanostructures could be utilized for growing other metal oxide nanowires from high melting temperature metals.