Precipitation of ZnO particles and their properties

• Published in: Materials letters Vol. 59; no. 19-20; pp. 2388 - 2393
• Main Authors: Musić, S., Dragčević, Đ., Popović, S., Ivanda, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2005
• Subjects: B.E.T; Precipitation; Raman; TEM; XRD; ZnO; Precipitation; ZnO; Raman; XRD; TEM; B.E.T
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2005.02.084

The aqueous suspensions obtained from zinc acetate solution neutralized with varying amounts of NH4OH solution were hydrothermally aged at 160 °C. The precipitates were characterized by XRD, Raman, B.E.T. and TEM. ZnO particles were produced by dissolution/reprecipitation mechanism from the starting precipitate. The rate of this transformation increased with an increase in pH from 7 to 10. The sizes of these ZnO particles were in the micron range and their physical shape depended on pH. Ageing of the starting aqueous suspension for 7 months at pH 10 and room temperature yielded aggregates consisting of nanosize ZnO particles (∼20 to ∼60 nm). Nanosize ZnO particles were also synthesized by the sol–gel method based on fast hydrolysis of zinc 2-ethylhexanoate dissolved in 2-propanol. It was shown that nanosize particles induced distinct spectral changes in the standard Raman spectrum of ZnO.