Novel flower-like hyperbranched ZnTe nanostructures prepared via catalyst-assisted vacuum thermal evaporation

Novel flower-like hyperbranched ZnTe nanostructures were prepared by catalyst-assisted vacuum thermal evaporation method. Various analysis techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electronic diffraction (SAED) were conducted on the as-prepared products. The XRD analysis demonstrates the ZnTe nanostructures are high pure single crystalline of zinc-blende structure. These novel ZnTe nanostructures are grown by a combination of the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth mechanism and screw-dislocation-driven mechanism. The nanostructures formed by VLS mechanism have smaller sizes of several to ten micrometers and secondary branches with diameters of 100 nm. The nanostructures combined VLS and screw-dislocation-driven growth mechanism have a diagonal size of 40 µm and they consist of quartic branches, among which the secondary branches are spiral. The stems of the nanostructures with no-spiral secondary branches and their branches of the two kinds of nanostructures are all capped by a spherical catalyst particle, which is an indication of VLS growth mechanism. These as-prepared ZnTe nanostructures perhaps have potential applications in optoelectronics due to their unique geometric configurations.     

Strontium and zinc co-substituted nanophase hydroxyapatite

It is well documented that biological hydroxyapatite (HA) differs from pure and synthetically produced HA, and contains of a mixture of calcium phosphate (CaP) phases in addition to a range of impurity ions, such as strontium (Sr²⁺), zinc (Zn²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺), fluoride (F^-) and carbonate(CO₃^2-), but to name a few. Further to this, biological apatite is generally in the form of rod (or needle-like) crystals in the nanometre (nm) size range, typically 60 nm in length by 5–20 nm wide. In this study, a range of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA), substituted nHA materials and co-substituted nHA (based on Sr²⁺ and Zn²⁺) were manufactured using an aqueous precipitation method. Sr²⁺ and Zn²⁺ were chosen due to the significant performance enhancements that these substitutions can deliver. The materials were then characterised using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques. The TEM results show that all of the samples produced were nano-sized, with Zn-substituted nHA being the smallest crystals around 27 nm long and 8 nm wide. The FTIR, XRD and XPS results all confirm that the materials had undergone substitution with either Sr²⁺ and Zn²⁺, for Ca²⁺ within the HA lattice (or both in the case of the co-substituted materials). The FTIR results confirmed that all of the samples were carbonated, with a significant loss of hydroxylation as a consequence of the incorporation of Sr²⁺ and Zn²⁺ into the HA lattice. None of the materials synthesised here in this study contained any other impurity CaP phases. Therefore this study has shown that substituted and co-substituted nanoscale apatites can be prepared, and that the degree of substitution (and the substituting ion) can have a profound effect of the attendant materials’ properties.     

Green synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanohybrid using sodium alginate gelation method

Mesoporous Ag/ZnO nanohybrid material has been successfully synthesized using simple and green route via sodium alginate media. The as-synthetized nanomaterial was structurally characterized using various techniques such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and N₂ adsorption-desorption measurements (BET). The Ag/ZnO nanoparticles were quasi-spherical, crystalline with a size ranging from 40 to 50 nm. In addition, characterization results confirmed that calcined Ag/ZnO nanomaterial sample was stable and mainly consisting of both hexagonal ZnO and cubic silver nanoparticles.     

Synthesis of a novel nanostructured zinc oxide/baghdadite coating on Mg alloy for biomedical application: In-vitro degradation behavior and antibacterial activities

In this research, zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc oxide/baghdadite (ZnO/Ca₃ZrSi₂O₉) were prepared on the surface of Mg alloy using physical vapor deposition (PVD) coupled with electrophoretic deposition (EPD). For this purpose, the nanostructured ZnO was prepared with a thickness of 900 nm and crystallite sizes of 64 nm as under layer while nanostructured baghdadite with a thickness of 10 µm was deposited on the Mg alloy substrate as an over-layer. Electrochemical measurement exhibited that the ZnO/Ca₃ZrSi₂O₉-coated specimen has a higher corrosion resistance and superior stability in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution in comparison with the ZnO-coated and bare Mg alloy samples. Antibacterial activities of the uncoated and coated specimens were evaluated against various pathogenic species (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Shigella dysenteriae) via disc diffusion method. The obtained results showed that ZnO and ZnO/Ca₃ZrSi₂O₉ coatings have great zones of inhibition (ZOI) against E. coli, Klebsiella, and Shigella. However, less ZOI was found around the bare Mg alloy. Therefore, ZnO/Ca₃ZrSi₂O₉ is a promising coating for orthopedic applications of biodegradable Mg alloys considering its excellent antibacterial activities and high corrosion resistance.     

Temperature-dependent growth of ZnO structures by thermal oxidation of Zn coatings electrodeposited on steel substrates and their photocatalytic activities

In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures were successfully synthesized by thermal oxidation of zinc (Zn) coated steel substrates. Zn coatings were electrodeposited on the mild carbon steel sheet in the sulfate bath by DC current. The zinc coated samples were oxidized in air at distinct annealing temperatures between 400 °C and 800 °C. The phase structure and surface morphology of the ZnO films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic activity of these ZnO layers was examined by means of decomposition of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solutions under UV lamp irradiation for various duration. The findings illustrated that annealing temperatures had a big effect on the morphology and structure of the ZnO layers. The annealed layers showed significantly enhanced photoactivity activity than the pure Zn layer under UV-irradiation. The sample with ZnO nanostructures oxidized at 800 °C exhibited a better photocatalytic degradation of MB than the other samples. This paper can provide an important contribution to the development of efficient photocatalysts for the solution of the environmental pollution problems.     

天然水及头发中痕量锌的单扫描示波极谱测定

本文在文献[1]的基础上,进一步研究了在乙二胺介质(pH11.2)中锌的单扫描示波极谱测定方法,确立了最适条件。锌浓度在1.0×10~(-7)、5.0×10~(-6)mol·dm~(-3)之间与波高呈良好的线性关系,检出下限低达5.0×10~(-8)mol·dm~(-3)。该法无需前处理即可直接测定多种天然水中痕量锌,头发样品中的锌经常规硝化处理后也能方便测定,其相对标准偏差为1.6％,结果令人满意。本文认为,此法用于建立水样中痕量锌测定的标准方法是可行的。     

The effect of bioactive glass nanoparticles on corrosion barrier performance and bioactivity of zinc oxide coatings electrodeposited on Ti6Al4V substrate

Zinc oxide coatings were electrodeposited on Ti6Al4V substrates from a nitrate bath with and without 1 wt% BG nanoparticles at ?1.2 and ?1.4 V_Ag/AgCl, where the former voltage created a spherical morphology, the latter developed a flower-like one. The spherical morphology was modified through the incorporation of BG nanoparticles, where surface roughness, wettability, and adhesion strength of the coating were enhanced. The coatings with spherical morphology also revealed complete barrier property after immersion in PBS solution. However, fully adverse effects were found for the coatings deposited at ?1.4 V_Ag/AgCl. This indicates that morphology is the most important factor determining the properties of ZnO and ZnO-BG coatings. The highest corrosion barrier performance was achieved for the ZnO-BG composite coating with spherical morphology. Although the composite coating with flower-like morphology did not provide complete barrier property at short immersion times, it earned that at longer times due to the plugging supported by the BG nanoparticles. The bioactivity tests in SBF at long times showed that the formation of Ca-P deposits on the surface of the composite coatings was noticeably improved.     

Influence of charge compensation on the photoluminescence and temperature sensing of zinc titanate composites

Eu³⁺ activated zinc titanate red-emitting phosphors have been synthesized by a solid state reaction, and Li⁺ is added as the charge compensator to tune the optical performances of the phosphors. The structure of samples synthesized at different temperature reveals temperature dependence. The crystallization of particles is improved with increasing calcination temperature. The surface morphology and element distribution of the samples are observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). Various elements are evenly distributed in the matrix materials. The luminescence intensity of Eu³⁺ is effectively improved by co-doping Li⁺, and the luminescence intensity of the phosphor with Li⁺ content of 5 mol% and 7 mol% is twice than that of the phosphor without Li ⁺ when the annealing temperature is 600 °C. While the influence of Li ⁺ on the photoluminescence performance becomes weaker with the annealing temperature increasing. The highest relative sensitivity of 0.65%/K is obtained in the sample annealed at 1000 °C, which is not affected by the Li⁺ dopants.     

Boosting the antimicrobial and Azo dye mineralization activities of ZnO ceramics by enhancing the light-harvesting and charge transport properties

Herein, we report the wet-chemical synthesis of a ferromagnetic nickel-doped ZnO (Zn_1-xNi_xO) nanocatalyst as a novel and visible-light-driven photocatalyst. Through X-ray diffraction, UV/Vis absorption, electronic studies, and current-voltage experiments, the effect of the ferromagnetic nickel dopant on the structural, optical, morphological, and electrical properties of the synthesized Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalyst was studied. The Ni-doping introduced the structural variation in the Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalyst, exhibiting a visible light-triggered optical band gap of 2.96 eV and an excellent current conductivity of 6.3 × 10⁻⁴ Sm⁻¹. Moreover, the synthesis of the Zn_1-xNi_xO catalyst at the nanoscale enhanced its surface energy, showing a robust affinity to stick with the dye and pathogenic microbes. The synergistic effects of all the mentioned features enable our Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalyst to efficiently generate and transport reactive oxygen species (ROS) under visible light illumination. Regarding antibacterial action, the as-synthesized Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalyst showed 1.7% higher activity against E. coli than that of the drug Ciprofloxacin. In addition, doped nanocatalysts mineralize almost 97% of the Allura red dye in just 80 min with a constant rate value of 0.036 min⁻¹. The impedance study and post-application XRD proposed that our Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalyst has good conductivity and structural stability. Applications studies show the unusual photocatalytic activity of as-synthesized Zn_1-xNi_xO nanocatalysts, which makes it a suitable candidate for industrial discharge treatment applications at the expense of solar light.     

Electrochemical reactions of lithium with Li2ZnGe and Li2ZnSi

Electrochemical reactions of lithium with cubic α-Li₂ZnGe and with hexagonal Li₂ZnSi have been studied. Charging a Li/α-Li₂ZnGe battery results in lithium extraction to yield a Li_1.2ZnGe composition, through a first step at ca. 0.9 V that involves a phase transition from cubic to hexagonal, and a second step at ca. 1.1 V where Ge and Zn segregation is observed. By discharge of the Li/α-Li₂ZnGe battery, the composition Li₃ZnGe is reached at 0.2 V while the cubic structure is maintained. Lithium insertion into Li₂ZnSi preserves the hexagonal structure, but lithium extraction modifies the X-ray diffraction pattern.