No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Copper-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by grinding copper acetate and zinc acetate powder with different starting molar ratios in combined with sodium hydroxide. The effect of initial copper and zinc molar ratios on the product samples was investigated and discussed. Relevant ligand coordination type of reactant acetate salt precursors and product samples were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The particle shapes and surface morphologies were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Phase structures of prepared samples were studied by x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) was applied to investigate the local structure of Cu and Zn environment atoms. The results demonstrate that the, particle size of as-synthesized products affected by copper concentration in the precursor trend to gradually decreases from nanorod shape with diameter around 50–100 nm to irregular particle structure around 5 nm associated with an increase in the concentration of copper in precursor. Moreover, it is noticed that shape and morphology of the products are strongly dependent on Cu:Zn ratios during the synthesis. Nanocrystallines Cu-doped ZnO by the substitution in Zn site with a high crystallization degree of hexagonal wurtzite structure were obtained. This synthesis technique is suggested as a potential effective technique for preparing copper zinc oxide nanoparticles with various atomic ratio in wide range of applications.

No abstract

In this work, the metal ferrites MFe 2 O 4 (M ¼ Ni, Mn, Cu) were synthesized from metal nitrate precursors by the sol-gel auto-combustion method using diethanolamine (DEA) as a potential fuel. The crystal structures of these ferrite powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique confirming the complete formation of the single-phase cubic spinel crystal structure. The ferrimagnetism characteristic and the difference of the magnetic properties such as saturation magnetization (M s ), remanent magnetization (M r ), and coercivity (H c ) for each after-calcined ferrite sample were scrutinized through the ferrimagnetic hysteresis loop (M-H) obtained from the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement. Moreover, the cation distribution and valence state of these ferrites were investigated by the Ni, Mn, Cu, and Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra using the synchrotron radiation light source. From the XAS results, the analyses of both XANES and EXAFS spectra show the existence of accurate oxidation state for transition metal ions and the interionic distance to the nearest neighbors in the spinel crystal structure. In particular, the curve-fitting analysis of Ni, Mn, Cu, and Fe K-edge EXAFS spectra indicates that the degree of inversion in these metal ferrites is entirely different and found to be 0.2 for MnFe 2 O 4 , 0.8 for CuFe 2 O 4 , and 1.0 for NiFe 2 O 4 , which are the important information for understanding their effects on relevant magnetic properties.

Zinc oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotube (ZnO/MWCNT) hybrid nanocomposites were synthesised by microwave-assisted method using the mixed solution of zinc acetate dehydrate (Zn(CH 3 COO) 2 Á2H 2 O) and treated MWCNTs. The syntheses were carried out at various microwave irradiation powers. The characterisation of the as-synthesised nanocomposites was conducted by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD results revealed that the composites were composed of two phases of MWCNTs and hexagonal wurzite ZnO. The SEM results showed that the ZnO nanoparticles were well decorated on the surface of MWCNTs. The amount of ZnO nanoparticles and their size increased with increasing irradiation power. Thick-film sensors were fabricated onto interdigitated conducting electrodes using as-synthesised hybrid composites as sensing materials. The alcohol-sensing behaviour of the hybrid composite films was investigated. The results indicated that the irradiation power had significant influence on the sensing response of the sensors toward alcohol. The sensor fabricated from the composite synthesised at higher irradiation power exhibited an enhanced alcohol-sensing performance.