Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Ag/ZnO sub-microparticles

Abstract

A fast and environmentally friendly, microwave-assisted, hydrothermal synthesis was utilized for the preparation of a Ag/ZnO hybrid system by using zinc acetate dihydrate and silver nitrate as the sources of ZU(2+) and Ag+, and hexamethylentetramine as the reducing and precipitating agent. The influence of the concentration was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive analysis. It was found that the concentration has a strong effect on the morphology and proportion between the Ag and ZnO components of the prepared particulate materials. With a decreasing concentration, the morphology of the ZnO changed from twinned or single frustums to rod-like microparticles, whereas the silver morphology changed from large polygon-shaped microparticles to very small, spherical nanoparticles.