MORPHOLOGICAL AND OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTROSPUN ZINC OXIDE NANOFIBERS

2010 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 141-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. ESMAEILPOUR GANJI ◽  
A. M. BAZARGAN ◽  
M. KEYANPOUR-RAD ◽  
M. A. BAHREVAR

A combination of the remarkably simple technique of electrospinning, developed to fabricate polymer nanofibers, and sol–gel processing has been utilized to produce fine zinc oxide nanofibers with an average diameter of 70 nm. A non-toxic precursor solution of polyvinyl alcohol and zinc acetate was electrospun and the resulting fibers were then calcined at a relatively low temperature to produce ZnO nanofibers. Simultaneous thermal analyses were used to study the formation of ZnO nanofibers from the precursor material. X-ray diffraction was employed to analyze the phases and different microscopy techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to study the morphology and size of the fibers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was employed to investigate the composition of the precursor and ZnO fibers. The specific surface area of the electrospun nanofibers was determined using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method and optical properties were measured by UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. The very high specific surface area of the ZnO fibers makes them potential candidates for nanodevice applications in gas sensing, dye-sensitized solar cells, and UV/blue emission devices.

NANO ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 1850036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiqiang Diao ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Hao Liang ◽  
Iryna Ivanenko ◽  
Tetiana Dontsova ◽  
...  

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized onto a series of individual and bimetallic catalysts by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of acetylene at low temperature (600[Formula: see text]C). The catalysts were prepared by two methods, i.e., precipitation and sol–gel, with two different carriers – MgO and Al2O3. The catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric (TG) analysis, low-temperature adsorption of nitrogen. The yield of the MWCNTs was calculated in two ways, while the highest yield of 800% was achieved onto the two-component NiO/Co2O3/MgO catalyst, SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results confirm that uniform tube-like structure MWCNTs with the yield of 410% were obtained onto Co2O3/Al2O3 catalyst. These MWCNTs are smooth and pointing in the same direction. Their tube diameter is about 20[Formula: see text]nm, which is the smallest around all observed MWCNTs. Moreover, nonuniform curved bamboo-like MWCNTs with nozzles in the yield of 760% were obtained onto NiO/V2O3/MgO catalyst. Their diameter ranges from 25[Formula: see text]nm to 50[Formula: see text]nm. Results show that single-component catalyst promotes the growth of uniform and smaller nanotubes. Among the as-grown nanotubes, their specific surface area increases and average pores diameter reduces after the treatment with concentrated nitric acid at reflux and washing condition. The largest specific surface area (305[Formula: see text]m2/g) and average pores diameter (26[Formula: see text]m2/g) are processed to MWCNTs grown onto the NiO/Co2O3/MgO catalyst. MWCNTs with such large structural adsorption characteristics and purity of more than 99% obtained with yield 800% show potential use for preparation of nanocomposites as anode materials in lithium ion batteries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Niu ◽  
Bin Zhou ◽  
Zehui Zhang ◽  
Jianming Yang ◽  
Xiujie Ji ◽  
...  

Monolithic TiO2 aerogels without severe shrink were obtained by the sol-gel method with the addition of the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to control the hydrolysis and polycondensation process and acetonitrile solvent as the solvent to improve the crystallinity. After CO2 supercritical drying, the shrinkage ratio of monolithic TiO2 aerogels modified by CTAB decreased by up to ∼26.9%, compared with the pure TiO2 aerogel. Their apparent densities were all lower than 300 g/cm3. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and BET Specific Surface Area Analysis were used to analyze the as-synthesized samples. The results revealed that all the samples were anatase-TiO2 phase with nanoporous network structures. The specific surface areas reached 250.2 m2/g confirmed by the BET (Brunaur–Emmett–Teller method) analysis. However, TiO2 aerogels without the addition of CTAB showed evident agglomeration and collapse of the network in comparison with CTAB-added samples. To further study the structure-property relationship, the photocatalysis performance of as-synthesized and 300°C-calcined aerogels was carried out contrastively. Interestingly, the influences of the CTAB adding amount of as-synthesized and calcined TiO2 aerogels are negative and positive, respectively, which is probably due to the synergistic effect of CTAB hindrance and grain refinement. Potentially, This kind of TiO2 aerogels assisted by CATB with low density, small shrinkage, improved formability, high specific surface area and fine crystalline grain may be applied in various applications, such as electrochemistry, photocatalysis, etc.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (15n17) ◽  
pp. 2514-2519 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIN-BO CHENG ◽  
AI-DONG LI ◽  
QI-YUE SHAO ◽  
YUE-FENG TANG ◽  
DI WU

Ferroelectric nanocrystal powders of SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) have been first prepared by a polymerizable complex (PC) route. The bismuth powder, strontium carbonate, and water-soluble tantalum oxalate solution were used as starting materials. Thermal analyses (TGA and DSC), x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and conventional BET method were explored to characterize the structure, morphology, and specific surface area of PC-derived SBT powders calcined at 500-850 °C. As control samples, SBT powders were also fabricated by metalorganic decomposition (MOD) method. The XRD and TEM results indicate that high pure and well crystalline powders can be obtained at 650 °C with a average size of 50 nm. The PC-derived powder has much larger surface area than MOD-derived powder. The BET value of PC and MOD powder at 750 °C for 2h is 6.7 and 1.5m2/g, respectively. The specific surface area of powder prepared by conventional solid-state reaction is quite low, typically less than 1.5m2/g. Therefore, the feasibility of the polymerizable complex route is demonstrated in the powder synthesis of SBT with large surface area.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prakash Parajuli ◽  
Sanjit Acharya ◽  
Julia Shamshina ◽  
Noureddine Abidi

Abstract In this study, alkali and alkaline earth metal chlorides with different cationic radii (LiCl, NaCl, and KCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2) were used to gain insight into the behavior of cellulose solutions in the presence of salts. The specific focus of the study was evaluation of the effect of salts’ addition on the sol-gel transition of the cellulose solutions and on their ability to form monoliths, as well as evaluation of the morphology (e.g., specific surface area, pore characteristics, and microstructure) of aerocelluloses prepared from these solutions. The effect of the salt addition on the sol-gel transition of cellulose solutions was studied using rheology, and morphology of resultant aerogels was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, while the salt influence on the aerocelluloses’ crystalline structure and thermal stability was evaluated using powder X-Ray Diffraction (pXRD) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), respectively. The study revealed that the effect of salts’ addition was dependent on the component ions and their concentration. The addition of salts in the amount below certain concentration limit significantly improved the ability of the cellulose solutions to form monoliths and reduced the sol-gel transition time. Salts of lower cationic radii had a greater effect on gelation. However, excessive amount of salts resulted in the formation of fragile monoliths or no formation of gels at all. Analysis of surface morphology demonstrated that the addition of salts resulted in a significant increase in porosity and specific surface area, with salts of lower cationic radii leading to aerogels with much larger (~1.5 and 1.6-fold for LiCl and MgCl2, respectively) specific surface area compared to aerocelluloses prepared with no added salt. Thus, by adding the appropriate salt into the cellulose solution prior to gelation, the properties of aerocelluloses that control material’s performance (specific surface area, density, and porosity) could be tailored for a specific application.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Anirut Leksomboon ◽  
Bunjerd Jongsomjit

In this present study, the spherical silica support was synthesized from tetraethyloxysilane (TEOS), water, sodium hydroxide, ethylene glycol and n-dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (C12TMABr). The particle size was controlled by variation of the ethylene glycol co-solvent weight ratio of a sol-gel method preparation in the range of 0.10 to 0.50. In addition, the particle size apparently increases with high weight ratio of co-solvent, but the particle size distribution was broader. The standard deviation of particle diameter is large when the co-solvent weight ratio is more than 0.35 and less than 0.15. However, the specific surface area was similar for all weight ratios ranging from 1000 to 1300 m2/g. The synthesized silica was spherical and has high specific surface area. The cobalt was impregnated onto the obtained silica to produce the cobalt catalyst used for CO2 hydrogenation.</


2013 ◽  
Vol 831 ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
Chung Hsin Wu ◽  
Chao Yin Kuo ◽  
Chih Hao Lai ◽  
Wei Yang Chung

This study explored the decolorization of C.I. Reactive Red 2 (RR2) by the ultraviolet (UV)/TiO2, UV/TiO2 + In2O3, and UV/TiO2-In2O3 systems. The TiO2-In2O3 was generated by the sol-gel method and TiO2 + In2O3 was created by mixing TiO2 and In2O3 powders. The surface properties of TiO2, In2O3, and TiO2-In2O3 were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, a specific surface area analyzer, UV-vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The specific surface area of TiO2, In2O3, and TiO2-In2O3 was 29.5, 44.6, and 35.7 m2/g, respectively; additionally, the band gap of TiO2, In2O3, and TiO2-In2O3 was 2.95, 2.64, and 2.91 eV; respectively. The decolorization rate constant fit pseudo-first-order kinetics and that of the UV/TiO2, UV/TiO2 + In2O3, and UV/TiO2-In2O3 systems was 0.0023, 0.0031, and 0.0072 min-1; respectively.


2020 ◽  
Vol 861 ◽  
pp. 289-294
Author(s):  
Chao Yang ◽  
Fang Wang ◽  
Rui Hua Wang ◽  
Min Han Xu ◽  
Bo Feng Ma ◽  
...  

Dye-sensitized solar cells have better development prospects than silicon cells, and their main structural composition of nanoporous semiconductor films is particularly important. It is the tin dioxide film, and the effect of preparing tin oxide film on dye-sensitized solar cells under different conditions is studied. In this paper, the SnO2 powder was prepared by hydrothermal method, and the experiment was studied by controlled variable method. The properties of the obtained tin dioxide powder were characterized by SEM and three-dimensional ultra-depth microscope and XRD. The XRD diffraction peak is shown as tetragonal phase rutile type SnO2, With the increase of the concentration of tin tetrachloride solution, the coarser the particle size of the tin oxide crystal in the film, the more complicated the surface morphology, so that the specific surface area of the film is larger. At 0.1 mol/L, the surface of the film is a porous structure in the form of a loose sheet is presented. After analyzing the surface microstructure and flatness of the tin dioxide film, it can be concluded that the effect of salt concentration on the specific surface area of the film is extremely large. When the salt concentration is higher or lower, the obtained two the surface of the tin oxide film is relatively flat and has poor performance. When the salt concentration is 0.1mol/L, the surface of the obtained film has a large undulation and a large specific surface area, and the ability to adsorb the dye molecules can be predicted to be the greatest, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency is optimal in the photocatalytic process.


2011 ◽  
Vol 403-408 ◽  
pp. 1205-1210
Author(s):  
Jaleh Babak ◽  
Ashrafi Ghazaleh ◽  
Gholami Nasim ◽  
Azizian Saeid ◽  
Golbedaghi Reza ◽  
...  

In this work ZnO nanocrystal powders have been synthesized by using Zinc acetate dehydrate as a precursor and sol-gel method. Then the products have been annealed at temperature of 200-1050°C, for 2 hours. The powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The morphology of refrence ZnO nanoparticles have been studied using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). During the annealing process, increase in nanocrystal size, defects and energy gap quantitative, and decrease in specific surface area have been observed.


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