We report the growth of well-oriented nest (reticulum)-like and lotus flower-like submicron structures of ZnO, over gold and silver nanoparticle assemblies, respectively. The structures were grown by a convenient chemical bath deposition method in a nutrient solution made of zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)(2) center dot 6H(2)O) and methyl amine (CH3NH2) at low temperature. SEM, XRD, Raman, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra were used to study the morphology, crystallinity and phase purity of the structures. The ZnO submicron structures were found to be in the hexagonal wurtzite phase. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.