Shah, Jyoti and Kotnala, Ravinder Kumar (2017) Rapid green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using a hydroelectric cell without an electrolyte. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 108. pp. 15-20. ISSN 0022-3697

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Abstract

In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using a novel environmentally friendly hydroelectric cell without an electrolyte or external current source. The hydroelectric cell comprised a nanoporous Li substituted magnesium ferrite pellet in contact with two electrodes, with zinc as the anode and silver as an inert cathode. The surface unsaturated cations and oxygen vacancies in the nanoporous ferrite dissociated water molecules into hydronium and hydroxide ions when the hydroelectric cell was dipped into deionized water. Hydroxide ions migrated toward the zinc electrode to form zinc hydroxide and the hydronium ions were evolved as H-2 gas at the silver electrode. The zinc hydroxide collected as anode mud was converted into ZnO nanoparticles by heating at 250 degrees C. Structural analysis using Raman spectroscopy indicated the good crystallinity of the ZnO nanoparticles according to the presence of a high intensity E-2-(high) mode. The nanoparticle size distribution was 5-20 nm according to high resolution transmission electron microscopy. An indirect band gap of 2.75 eV was determined based on the Tauc plot, which indicated the existence of an interstitial cation level in ZnO. Near band edge and blue emissions were detected in photoluminescence spectral studies. The blue emissions obtained from the ZnO nanoparticles could potentially have applications in blue lasers and LEDs. The ZnO nanoparticles synthesized using this method had a high dielectric constant value of 5 at a frequency of 1 MHz, which could be useful for fabricating nano-oscillators. This facile, clean, and cost-effective method obtained a significant yield of 0.017 g for ZnO nanoparticles without applying an external current source.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to M\S Elsevier.
Subjects:	Chemistry Applied Physics/Condensed Matter
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Users 27 not found.
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2019 11:17
Last Modified:	25 Feb 2019 11:17
URI:	http://npl.csircentral.net/id/eprint/2832

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