Synthesis and Characterization of Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals by Solid-State and Solvothermal Techniques

The nanostructural zinc oxide (ZnO) particles have been synthesized by two techniques, solid-state reaction and solvothermal method. The solid-state reaction method, the ZnO nanoparticles were carried out by reacting zinc acetate with sodium hydroxide in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and beta-cyclodextrin (b-CD). The effects of reaction condition on the nanocrystal morphology were investigated. The physical properties of ZnO were characterized using X-ray diffraction technique and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the obtained ZnO nanorods were in the wurtzite structure with various sizes of single crystals. FT-IR analysis also confirmed the binding of SDS with ZnO nanorods. For the solvothermal technique, ZnO nanostructures with various morphologies were synthesized from the treatment of zinc acetate at 80°C with the selected polymeric surfactant, poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), in aqueous solution and ethylene glycol. The results showed that the selected surfactant and solvent play a different role in controlling the morphologies of the ZnO nanocrystals. The ZnO nanorods and nanoparticles were successfully obtained. The XRD result revealed that the ZnO is in the wurtzite structure with the particle size in range of 270-1300 nm. The optical properties of the samples were also studied via UV-vis spectrophotometer.