Preparation of zinc gluconate nanostructures with different shapes by lamellar liquid crystal template

Due to the penetration of solvent into the amphiphile bilayer of lamellar liquid crystal and the limitation of the thickness of the solvent layer of the lamellar liquid crystal, the zinc gluconate nanoparticles were synthesized by a direct template route in the lamellar liquid crystal formed by Triton X-100/n-C10H21OH/H2O system. The particles obtained were characterized by the transmission electron microscopy technique. Furthermore, the effects of the composition of lamellar liquid crystal, the zinc gluconate concentration and the temperature on the shape of particles were also studied. The studies show that monodisperse zinc gluconate particles can be produced by the lamellar liquid crystal template, and the shape and size are nearly independent of the composition of lamellar liquid crystal. However, the shape of particles evolves from spheres to nanowires with the increasing zinc gluconate concentration, and from spheres to nanorods as the temperature increases. The formation of one-dimensional zinc gluconate nanostructures can be attributed to an ideal microenvironment in the lamellar liquid crystal. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.