Growth mechanism and gas-sensing characteristics of organic-additive-free zinc oxide of various shapes

Zinc oxide is widely used in gas sensors, solar cells, and photocatalysts because of its wide bandgap and exciton binding energy of 60 meV in various metal oxides. To use ZnO as a gas sensor, it is necessary to synthesize it with surface defects and a large specific surface area. In this study, hydrothermal synthesis without surfactants was employed to obtain organic-additive-free ZnO. For morphology control, we varied the ratio of the hydroxide ion concentration to the zinc ion concentration. To confirm the growth mechanism of ZnO, we performed X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy analyses. Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements were performed to analyze the surface properties. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method and probe stations were used to measure the specific surface area and sensitivity of the gas sensor, respectively. The results confirmed that flower-shaped ZnO is the most suitable gas-sensing material.     

Zinc ferrite based gas sensors: A review

Flammable, explosive and toxic gases, such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds vapor, are major threats to the ecological environment safety and human health. Among the available technologies, gas sensing is a vital component, and has been widely studied in literature for early detection and warning. As a metal oxide semiconductor, zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) represents a kind of promising gas sensing material with a spinel structure, which also shows a fine gas sensing performance to reducing gases. Due to its great potentials and widespread applications, this article is intended to provide a review on the latest development in zinc ferrite based gas sensors. We first discuss the general gas sensing mechanism of ZnFe₂O₄ sensor. This is followed by a review of the recent progress about zinc ferrite based gas sensors from several aspects: different micro-morphology, element doping and heterostructure materials. In the end, we propose that combining ZnFe₂O₄ which provides unique microstructure (such as the multi-layer porous shells hollow structure), with the semiconductors such as graphene, which provide excellent physical properties. It is expected that the mentioned composites contribute to improving selectivity, long-term stability, and other sensing performance of sensors at room or low temperature.     

Reduced graphene oxide-ZnO hybrid composites as photocatalysts: The role of nature of the molecular target in catalytic performance

Spurred by controversial literature findings, we enwrapped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in ZnO hierarchical microstructures (rGO loadings spanning from 0.01 to 2 wt%) using an in situ synthetic procedure. The obtained hybrid composites were carefully characterized, aiming at shining light on the possible role of rGO on the claimed increased performance as photocatalysts. Several characterization tools were exploited to unveil the effect exerted by rGO, including steady state and time resolved photoluminescence, electron microscopies and electrochemical techniques, in order to evaluate the physical, optical and electrical features involved in determining the catalytic degradation of rhodamine B and phenol in water.Several properties of native ZnO structures were found changed upon the rGO enwrapping (including optical absorbance, concentration of native defects in the ZnO matrix and double-layer capacitance), which are all involved in determining the photocatalytic performance of the hybrid composites. The findings discussed in the present work highlight the high complexity of the field of application of graphene-derivatives as supporters of semiconducting metal oxides functionality, which has to be analyzed through a multi-parametric approach.     

Review on recent advances of zinc substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles: Synthesis characterization and diverse applications

Researchers have taken a prodigious consideration in characterizing and synthesizing zinc substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles because of their substantial applications across diverse technological and industrial fields. Zinc substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles are a class of lenient magnetic nanomaterials, which have potentially high magnetic, optical, electrical, and dielectric properties. These properties include a high value of permeability, low power losses, permittivity, saturation magnetization, coercivity, resistivity, and other beneficial properties that make them promise candidates for applications in various fields. These ferrites are also used in biomedical areas such as MRI and cancer treatments. In electronic fields, zinc substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles are used to make transducers, transformers, biosensors, and sensors. Apart from these advantages, they are found in our everyday electronic and electrical appliances like LED bulb, refrigerator, mobile charger, TV, microwave oven, juicer, washing machine, mixer, iron, printer, laptop, mobile, desktop, etc. Hence, the current review reports some properties of these spinel ferrites and emphasizes the different synthesis techniques that can be used to prepare them. Afterward, the impact of dopant on the materials' properties, the characterization techniques, and the momentous application in the present era have been well discussed.     

Enhancing optical absorption in visible light of ZnO co-doped with europium and promethium by first-principles study through modified Becke and Johnson potential scheme

By using first-principles calculations we studied the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of ZnO co-doped with Eu and Pm. In this calculation, we used Wien2k code based on full potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method with the modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) approximation. This correction gives good band gap compared to experimental band gap. The introduction of Eu and Pm codoping leads to an increase in the band gap. Electrons can transit easily from the valence band to the conduction band, which results in an enhancement of visible light absorption in a wider absorption range. Absorption spectra reach a high value in visible and infrared light regions. With the significance of the obtained results, the studied compounds may potentially find spintronic and optoelectronic applications.     

Fabrication of a novel ZnO–CoO/rGO nanocomposite for nonenzymatic detection of glucose and hydrogen peroxide

Herein, a novel nanocomposite of binary ZnO–CoO nanoparticles loaded on the graphene nanosheets (ZnO–CoO/rGO) has been successfully constructed via a facile, economical and two–step process. The obtained ZnO–CoO/rGO hybrids with high electrical conductivity and abundant active sites, could be modified on a glassy carbon electrode to detect glucose and H₂O₂ multi–functionally. The fabricated biosensor exhibits wide linear range for glucose (10 μM to 11.205 mM) and H₂O₂ (25 μM to 11.1 mM), and their corresponding sensitivity are 168.7 μA mM^?1 cm^?2 and 183.3 μA mM^?1 cm^?2. The limits of detection are 1.3 μM and 0.44 μM for the oxidation of glucose and the reduction of H₂O₂, respectively. Furthermore, remarkable selectivity, long–term stability and outstanding reproducibility of the non–enzyme biosensor prove that ZnO–CoO/rGO hybrids are the promising candidate in practical applications.     

基于优化遗传算法改进的小波网络预测锰系磷化膜的耐蚀性

针对小波网络训练速率较慢、结构不易确定等问题,结合实验选取的因素(包括输入参数和输出结果),通过仿真确定了小波网络的结构为3-7-1。接着,利用优化遗传算法对小波网络进行改进,修正其初始权值和因子。通过仿真证实了改进的小波网络具备更强的寻优能力和更快的收敛速率。最后,利用改进的小波网络预测锰系磷化膜的耐蚀性。结果表明:改进的小波网络可以更好地拟合样本数据,能够进行较准确的预测。     

Nitrogen-doped graphene-supported zinc sulfide nanorods as efficient Pt-free for visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen production

Nitrogen-doped graphene-ZnS composite (NG-ZnS) was synthesized by thermal treatment of graphene-ZnS composite (G-ZnS) in NH₃ medium. In the second step, the as-synthesized samples were deposited on indium tin oxide glass (ITO) by electrophoretic deposition for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. The as-prepared NG-ZnS-modified ITO electrode displayed excellent photocatalytic activity, rapid transient photocurrent response, superior stability and high recyclability compared to the pure ZnS and G-ZnS-modified ITO electrode due to the synergy between the photocatalytic activity of ZnS nanorods and the large surface area and high conductivity of N-graphene.