Abstract
The morphology of metal oxide nanostructures influences the response of the materials in a given application. In addition to changing the composition, doping can also modify the morphology of a host nanomaterial. Herein, we determine the effect of dopant concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the morphology and assembly of CoxZn1−xO nanoparticles synthesized through non-aqueous sol-gel in benzyl alcohol. With the increase of the atom % of cobalt incorporated from 0 to 15, the shape of the nanoparticles changes from near spherical, to irregular, and finally to triangular. The tendency of the particles to assemble increases in the same direction, with Co0.05Zn0.95O consisting of non-assembled particles, whereas Co0.15Zn0.85O consists of triangular nanoparticles forming spherical structures. The morphology and assembly process are also sensitive to the reaction temperature. The assembly process is found to occur during the nucleation or the early stages of particle growth. The cobalt ions promote the change in the shape during the growth stage of the nanoparticles.
Highlights
Metal oxide nanostructures find application in a broad range of fields that include catalysis [1], energy storage and conversion [2,3,4], sensing [5], and medicine [6]
We determine the effect of dopant concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the morphology and assembly of CoxZn1−xO nanoparticles synthesized through non-aqueous sol-gel in benzyl alcohol
The dopant was found to have a strong impact on the morphology of the nanostructures, which was attributed to the modification of the energies of the different facets, caused by the dopant adsorption and incorporation, that promoted the growth in preferential directions
Summary
Metal oxide nanostructures find application in a broad range of fields that include catalysis [1], energy storage and conversion [2,3,4], sensing [5], and medicine [6] Their functionalities derive from the unique electronic, optical, and magnetic characteristics, as well as from surface lattice distortions/defects and surface reactivity arising at the nanoscale. Non-aqueous sol-gel synthesis approaches in organic solvents have been successfully applied to the fabrication of a large variety of nanostructures from pure inorganic, to organic-inorganic hybrid materials [11,12,13] They provide good control over the composition, size, shape, assembly, and crystallinity of nanomaterials, features that are influenced by factors such as the type and reactivity of the precursors, solvent, temperature, reaction time, or the presence of surfactants.
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