Abstract
Mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized with tremendous increase in specific surface area of up to 578 m2/g which was 5.54 m2/g in previous reports (J. Phys. Chem. C 113:14676-14680, 2009). Different mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles with average pore sizes ranging from 7.22 to 13.43 nm and specific surface area ranging from 50.41 to 578 m2/g were prepared through the sol-gel method via a simple evaporation-induced self-assembly process. The hydrolysis rate of zinc acetate was varied using different concentrations of sodium hydroxide. Morphology, crystallinity, porosity, and J-V characteristics of the materials have been studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and Keithley instruments.
Highlights
Zinc oxide is one of the principal multifunctional materials due to its unique characteristics having applications in catalysis [1,2], actuators and sensors [3,4], drug delivery [5], and optoelectronics [6,7]
Particles with rod shape or cylindrical shape were obtained which can be clearly seen from the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images
Variations of the average particle size of ZnO samples synthesized using different concentrations of NaOH have been presented in Figure 2 as obtained from TEM
Summary
Zinc oxide is one of the principal multifunctional materials due to its unique characteristics having applications in catalysis [1,2], actuators and sensors [3,4], drug delivery [5], and optoelectronics [6,7]. Nanostructures with a highly ordered porous network and having a large specific surface area with an optimum pore size such as TiO2 [11,12,13], ZnO [14,15,16], SiO2 [17], and SnO2 [18] have been developed, and most crystalline mesoporous metal oxides such as Co3O4, NiO, and MnO2 [19,20] were synthesized using a Nowadays, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology based on the ZnO photoelectrode has been explored extensively. This, first of all, provides the nanostructures with a large specific surface area It may result in many particular behaviors in electron transport or light propagation in view of the surface effect. Those nanostructural forms of ZnO which were developed during the past several decades mainly include nanowires (or nanorods), nanotubes, nanobelts, nanosheets, nanotips, and nanoparticles [24]
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