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An investigation into the influence of zinc precursor on the microstructural, photoluminescence, and gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanoparticles

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Abstract

This paper describes the effect of different zinc precursors, acetate, oxide, and nitrate, on the structure, microstructure, photoluminescence, and ozone gas-sensing properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and BET surface area show a dependence of the particle size and surface area with the precursor type. The ZnO sample synthesized from zinc nitrate shows the best photoluminescence (PL) emission. Although electron paramagnetic resonance shows in all samples the presence of a g-signal attributed to oxygen vacancies, it is not possible to correlate the presence of these defects with PL emission behavior. Furthermore, ZnO sample synthesized from zinc nitrate also shows the best ozone gas-sensing response, however, our results do not allow correlating the best PL emission in the visible region with the best sensor response to ozone gas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Brazilian research funding institutions CNPq and FAPESP (under grants no. 2013/09573-3 (L.F.Silva); 2012/15170-6 (A.C.Catto); 2011/22098-7 (P.N.L.Filho). They are also grateful to Ms. Adriana C. Thomazi (EMBRAPA instrumentação) for the BET surface area measurements and Mr. Rorivaldo Camargo for TEM measurements. This research was partially performed at LNLS and LNNano-Microfabrication laboratory (Project 17168), Campinas, SP, Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Física de São Carlos, USP, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Ariadne C. Catto, Maria I. B. Bernardi, Máximo S. Li, Otaciro R. Nascimento & Valmor R. Mastelaro

  2. LIEC, Instituto de Química, UNESP, Araraquara, SP, Brazil

    Luís F. da Silva & Elson Longo

  3. Grupo de Materiais Avançados (MAv), UNESP, Bauru, SP, Brazil

    Ariadne C. Catto & Paulo N. Lisboa-Filho

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  1. Ariadne C. Catto
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  2. Luís F. da Silva
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  3. Maria I. B. Bernardi
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  4. Máximo S. Li
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Correspondence to Luís F. da Silva.

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Catto, A.C., da Silva, L.F., Bernardi, M.I.B. et al. An investigation into the influence of zinc precursor on the microstructural, photoluminescence, and gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 16, 2760 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2760-0

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