A New Preparation Method of ZnO Cubic Phase Particle and Its IR Spectrum

ZnO ultrafine particles were produced by dropping Zn powder into a nichrome boat heated above 1000°C in a mixture gas of argon and oxygen. Cubic ZnO particles were predominantly produced in the mixture gas of oxygen at 5 Torr and argon at 95 Torr. The well-known hexagonal smoke particles were predominantly produced in the mixture gas of oxygen partial pressure of more than 20 Torr in the total pressure of 100 Torr. The characteristic infrared (IR) spectra due to the cubic and hexagonal phase were observed experimentally. The IR spectra of samples embedded in KBr pellets exhibited a peak at 20.3 µm wavelength for the cubic phase, and 18.3 µm and 23.0 µm wavelength for the hexagonal phase. The existence of cubic nuclei at the center of the tetrapod shape has been confirmed from the IR spectra.