Synthesis and performance study of zinc borate nanowhiskers

Abstract Zinc borate (4ZnO·B 2 O 3 ·H 2 O) nanowhiskers were synthesized via one-step precipitation reaction in aqueous solution of sodium borate (Na 2 B 4 O 7 ·10H 2 O) and zinc nitrate (Zn(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O) with phosphate ester as the modifying agent. The zinc borate nanowhiskers have the monoclinic crystal structure with diameters of 50–100 nm, lengths of about 1 μm, and the aspect ratios close to 10–20. Finally the thermal stability of polyethylene has been shown to increase upon the addition of the nanowhiskers to it.