SIDDAGANGA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, TUMKUR -572103.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZnO NANOPARTICLES BY CHEMICAL METHOD
PROJECT GUIDE: K. R. SHADAKSHARA MURTHY Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering

PROJECT ASSOCIATES: ABHISHEK KUMAR(1SI08CH001) ANUSHA PRIYA(1SI10CH011) APURVA ADARSH SINGH(1SI10CH012)

CONTENTS
Introduction Objectives Literature Survey Materials and Methods Block Diagram Procedure References

INTRODUCTION

Zinc oxide is a unique material with a direct band gap (3.37 eV) and a large exciton energy of 60 meV. Zinc Oxide usually appears as a white powder nearly insoluble in water. The powder is widely used as an additive into numerous materials and products including plastics, ceramics, glass, cement etc.

There are several metal oxides nanoparticles produced for various applications such as copper oxide, nickel oxide and magnesium oxide. Among these metal oxides, ZnO nanoparticles received increasing interest due to its exceptional properties such as wide band gap of 3.37 eV and a large exciton binding energy of 60 meV.

These properties make ZnO nanoparticles a suitable candidate to be incorporated in dyesensitized solar cells, semiconductor and other industrial applications.

Various techniques have been developed to produce ZnO nanoparticles such as sol-gel method, direct precipitation method, and combustion synthesis method.

However, these methods need to be performed under strict condition which is not favourable for low-cost production. Among them, chemical method is considerably simple, fast and cost-effective as compared to other methods. This is due to shortened reaction time to produce metal oxide powders and it does not require the use of catalysts to obtain the final product.

OBJECTIVES

To study the synthesis of Zinc nanoparticles by chemical method.

Oxide

To study the characterization of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles by chemical method.

LITERATURE SURVEY

There are different methods available for production of ZnO nano particles:

Hydrothermal Method Chemical Method Sol-gel Method

In hydrothermal method, stable OH free zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized by varying the growth temperature and concentration of the precursors. In the Sol-gel method, growth of ZnO from zinc acetate dihydrate precursor generally undergoes four stages, such as solvation, hydrolysis, polymerization and transformation results in a colloidalgel of zinc hydroxide ZnO.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Chemicals Used Zinc Nitrate Sodium Hydroxide Soluble starch Solution(0.1%)

EQUIPMENTS USED
Centrifuge
Drier

BLOCK DIAGRAM

NEUTRALISATION 250 ml of NaOH Solution of Solution Zn(NO3)2 solution

pH 12

CENTRIFUGATION

WASHED BY DEIONISED WATER AND ETHANOL HEATED AT 80oC GRINDING

PROCEDURE

The zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are to be prepared by using zinc nitrate and sodium hydroxides precursors and soluble starch as stabilizing agent. Different concentrations of soluble starch will be dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water by using microwave oven. Zinc nitrate, 0.1 mol, will be added in the above solution.

The solution will be kept under constant stirring using magnetic stirrer to completely dissolve the zinc nitrate for one hour. After complete dissolution of zinc nitrate, 0.2 mol of sodium hydroxide solution will be added under constant stirring. The reaction will be allowed to proceed for 2 h after complete addition of sodium hydroxide.

After the completion of reaction, the solution will be allowed to settle for overnight and the supernatant solution will then be discarded carefully. The remaining solution will be centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min and the supernatant solution will again be discarded.

The obtained nanoparticles will be washed three times using distilled water.

Washing is to be carried out to remove the byproducts and the excessive starch that may be bound with the nanoparticles. After washing, the nanoparticles will be dried at 80C for 24 h. During drying, complete conversion of Zn (OH)2 into ZnO takes place.

REFERENCES
D. C. Look, (2001) Recent advances in ZnO materials and devices, Material Science Engineering Book, 80, 383. C. Coskun, D. C. Look, G. C. Farlow and J. R. Sizelove, (2004) Radiation hardness of ZnO at low temperatures, Semiconductors Science Technology 19, 752. D.R.Lide(1992), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press, New York, 2(73), 855.

Morkoc H, Strite S, Gao G B, Lin M E, and Sverdlov B, and M. Burns (1994), Largeband-gap SIC, Ill-V nitride, and II-VI ZnSebased semiconductor device technologies, J.Appl. Phys, 7(6), 1363. Lingna W and Mamoun M, J. Mater (1999) Synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles with controlled morphology, 9, 2871.