Abstract: Influence of various factors on the growth behavior of ZnO nanostructures self-assembled by polymer complexation process and growth mechanism is discussed. Investigation on the self-assembling formation mechanism of ZnO nanostructures revealed that the growth of ZnO nanostructures was in well accordance with the polar growth behavior and polymer grid backbone localization model. The ZnO nanostructures can be tailored by using different complexing media. The regular wire-like, flower-like, flake-like and club-like ZnO nanostructures were obtained by using polymer such as PVA and PAM, ammonia, trisodium citrate (TSC) and hexamethylene tetraamine (HMTA) as complexing media, respectively. The weak base of the complexing solution at suitable pH value promoted the ［0001］ oriented growth of ZnO in the selfassembling process thus leading to the ZnO nanorods/nanowires. By reasonable selection and adjusting the factors such as complexing media and the basicity of the complexing solution, the crystal growth and morphologies of the ZnO nanostructures can well be controlled.

Key words: controlled growth, polymer complexation, self-assembling, low-dimensional ZnO nanostructure