Electrochemical Synthesis of Zinc Oxide in the Presence of Surfactant TERGITOL 15-S-5

In this work, we present the electrochemical synthesis of zinc oxide in the presence of surfactant TERGITOL 15-S-5. A sodium chloride solution was used as the electrolyte; a zinc block as the anode, and a steel plate as the cathode; TERGITOL 15-S-5 as the surfactant. The electrolyzer consists of a power supply B5-46, which ensures constant current during electrolysis; a voltmeter and ammeter to monitor the current strength and voltage; electrodes connected to the power supply and immersed in a 1 M sodium chloride solution (58.45 g/L) or a solution with the same concentration of sodium chloride and dissolved surfactant – TERGITOL 15-S-5 (from 1 to 4 g/L). The beaker containing the electrolyte solution was stirred with a magnetic stirrer and thermostated. In the electrochemical method, the surfactant content was varied (from 1 to 4 g/L). A total of 6 experiments were conducted. Six deposits were isolated and studied. Using the X-ray phase analysis, we established that the deposits are pure zinc oxide in the wurtzite modification (space group P63mc) and additional phases are not observed. SEM analysis also confirmed that the material contains only nanoparticles of zinc oxide. The crystalline structure of the obtained zinc oxide indicates that it can be modified by adding atoms with a smaller atomic radius compared to zinc atoms, as all octahedral voids are free, while only 2 out of 8 tetrahedral voids are filled with zinc atoms. The structure is non-centrosymmetric, suggesting that such materials may possess nonlinear optical properties. The zinc oxide particles have a plate-like shape with a width of 30-600 nm and a length of 50-2500 nm. All obtained deposits consist of nanosized particles with a thickness in the range of 20-40 nm. The addition of the surfactant TERGITOL 15-S-5 contributes to a slight increase in particle sizes.