Synthesis, optimization and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel technique

The study conducted endeavors on the synthesis of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using the sol-gel method at discrete calcination temperatures (500 degrees C, 700 degrees C, 900 degrees C). ZnO NPs were prepared using Zinc Acetate Dihydrate as a precursor, triethanolamine (TEA) as surfactant and ethanol as a solvent in the medium of Ammonium hydroxide and distilled water. The ZnO NPs thus obtained were characterized for structural and surface morphology analysis using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), respectively. XRD shows nothing but the characteristic peaks related to the ZnO phase, thus confirms the presence and purity of ZnO NPs. Also, the crystal size of NPs was derived using fullwidth half maxima (FWHM) of the highest peak of XRD spectra using Debye-Scherrer formula. SEM surface analysis reveals that the synthesized ZnO NPs are near-spherical in structure and homogeneous in nature with typical size ranging between 500 and 700 nm. Copyright (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Nanomaterials and Devices for Energy and Environment