Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticle and its Application in Catalytic Hydrolysis of p-Acetoxynitrobenzene

Abstract

Synthesis of ZnO nanoparticle and the hydrolysis of p-Acetoxynitrobenzene to p-Nitrophenol (p-NP) under aqueous phase conditions in the presence of ZnO nanoparticle has been carried out. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) are prepared by using simple precipitation method. Ammonia is used as a precipitating agent and ZnCl[Formula: see text]H2O as a starting material. The obtained ZnO NPs are characterized by using different techniques namely XRD, TGA/DTA, TEM, FT-IR, magnetic measurements and BET surface area analysis. ZnO NPs are evaluated for their catalytic properties in hydrolysis of p-Acetoxynitrobenzene to p-Nitrophenol (p-NP) under aqueous phase conditions. The effect of temperature and concentration has also been studied for the catalytic hydrolysis. This is to emphasize that the method used to synthesize these NPs is much simple and fiscal. The obtained ZnO NPs work as a good catalyst for the above conversion and are of low cost and easy to synthesize.