Electrochemical Synthesis of Zinc Oxide in the Presence of Surfactant FARMACOAT

In this work, we present the electrochemical synthesis of zinc oxide in the presence of the surfactant FARMACOAT from a sodium chloride solution and the corresponding surfactant concentration (in the range of 0 to 2.0 g/L). A total of 10 experiments were conducted, and X-ray phase analysis was performed on the synthesized samples. All powders do not contain impurity phases. The crystalline structure of the formed nanoparticles belongs to the hexagonal crystal system (Space group P63mc) and is non-centrosymmetric. According to the second coordination environment, the formed cuboctahedron contains three zinc atoms located in tetrahedral positions, which accounts for 3/8 of all tetrahedral voids. While the octahedral voids are empty, allowing for doping with such substances as transition metal atoms that have a tetrahedral environment and are characterized by small atomic radii (e.g., iron, nickel, cobalt). The obtained nanoparticles were also analyzed using SEM. From the obtained images, information regarding the width, length, and thickness of the particles was gathered. It is important to note that the width and length of the particles are quite significant; however, the thickness of the particles ranges from 25 to 29 nm. Overall, the largest number of particles (by width) is found in the range of 51 to 100 nm for surfactant concentrations from 0.2 to 1.4 g/L. With an increase in concentration, the number of particles shifts to the range of 151 to 200 nm. In terms of length, the smallest particles are in the range of 30 to 50 nm, while the largest reach up to 1.5, and occasionally even 2.5 μm. For samples synthesized in the presence of the lowest surfactant content, particles sized from 50 to 200 nm quantitatively prevail, whereas in the case of samples with the maximum surfactant content, particles range from 300 to 400 nm. Thus, at low surfactant concentrations, particle parameters are smaller, while with increasing surfactant concentration, both thickness and length significantly increase.