A novel approach for the synthesis of nanocrystalline zinc oxide powders by room temperature co-precipitation method

A single step co-precipitation route has been employed for the first time in the preparation of ZnO nanoparticles using ammonium hydroxide and zinc nitrate tetrahydrate. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the synthesized powder has the hexagonal (wurtzite) structure. The as-prepared ZnO powder was well crystalline, without any calcination. This is a promising result compared to those mentioned in the literature, in which crystallization of ZnO nanoparticles was detected at > 300 °C. The average crystallite size of the as-prepared ZnO nanopowder is 20-40 nm. The nanocrystalline ZnO could be sintered to ~ 95% of the theoretical density at 1300 °C in 4 h.