ZnO nanoparticle fabrication starting from ultra-high (1:2) PVOH/ZnAc proportion electrospun nanowire mats

Diogo Anderson Neves,Bruno Morais Serafim,Cyro Ketzer Saul,Ney Mattoso,Tatiana Milani Ratuznei

doi:10.1590/0104-6632.20180351s20160369

Diogo Anderson Neves, Bruno Morais Serafim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-6632.20180351s20160369

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Abstract

Abstract: The high versatility of nanostructured ZnO has drawn considerable attention from the scientific community since the second half of the two thousand decade. Within this timeframe, electrospinning became one of the simplest ways to produce nanostructured ZnO. In this work, we present the production and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles obtained from electrospun fiber mats using the highest (1:2) PVOH/ZnAc proportion reported so far. The thermally annealed samples were characterized using , X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRSEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDS) and Cathodoluminescence (CL). The results obtained show that all annealed samples present excess zinc as oxygen vacancies (VO, VO +) or oxygen antisites (OZn) which contribute to a considerable change in the CL spectra. This change evidences the presence of defect levels within the ZnO gap, which might be an indication that our nanoparticles present higher catalytic activity within the visible spectrum.

Highlights

Developed by Anton Formhals in 1934, the electrospinning process allows the manufacture of nonwoven fabric (Formhals, 1934)
ZnO nanoparticle fabrication starting from ultra-high (1:2) PVOH/ZnAcproportion electrospun nanowire mats
We present the production and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles obtained from electrospun fiber mats using the highest (2:1) ZnAc/PVOH proportion reported so far

Summary

Introduction

Developed by Anton Formhals in 1934, the electrospinning process allows the manufacture of nonwoven fabric (Formhals, 1934). EDS measurements presented in the graphs of Figure 5 evidence the sample compositional evolution throughout the annealing process. This graph evidences that the gap peak contribution to the CL spectra is small (< 25%) for all annealing temperatures and reduces rapidly, almost vanishing, after the annealing at 1000 oC.

Results

Conclusion