Malaret, F., Hallett, J. and Campbell, K.S. (2020) Oxidative ionothermal synthesis for micro and macro Zn-based materials. Materials Advances, 1 (9). pp. 3597-3604.
Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a multifunctional nanomaterial with a wide range of applications ranging from biosensors to solar cells. It is mainly mass-produced by air-oxidising vaporised metallic zinc at high temperatures without good particle uniformity. In a quest for environmentally-benign, cost-effective and high particle uniformity fabrication methods, many strategies had been proposed. However, recent methods utilise Zn salts as starting materials, produced commercially from metallic zinc, instead of the metallic Zn itself. We demonstrate that ZnO nano–macro particles (e.g. nanorods, needles and hierarchical structures) and other compounds [Zn(OH)2, Zn5(OH)8Cl2 or Zn5(OH)6(CO3)2] form spontaneously by direct oxidation of metallic zinc in aqueous ionic liquids (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride). Further, their chemical structure and morphology can be controlled by adjusting the concentration, temperature and exposure time. The environmentally benign and tunable nature of this novel oxidative ionothermal synthesis offers potential for new avenues towards application-motivated tailoring of ZnO and other nano and macro materials fabrication.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Feb 2021 12:27 |
Last Modified: | 05 Feb 2021 12:27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/d0ma00660b |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:169942 |