Preparation of metal oxide nanoparticles in ionic liquid medium

In the present study, a facile, rapid, and environmentally friendly method was used for the preparation of metal oxide nanoparticles in an ionic liquid medium. This technique involves mixing and heating the corresponding powder material (cadmium oxide, anatase, and hematite) and the selected ionic liquid (trihexyl(tetradecyl) phosphonium chloride, [P-6, (6,6,14)]Cl), without any other precursors or solvents. The confirmation of the existence of nanoparticles in the ionic liquid was carried out using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, and its concentration was determined by X-ray fluorescence. In order to analyze the shape and size distribution, transmission electron microscopy and a ZetaSizer (DLS technique) were used; finding out that the size of the hematite nanoparticles was 10-55 nm. Nevertheless, for the cadmium oxide and the anatase nanoparticles, the size was between 2 and 15 nm. The composition of the prepared nanoparticles was studied by Raman spectroscopy. The structure of solids did not suffer any modification in their transformation to the nanoscale, as concluded from the X-ray powder diffraction analysis.