Zinc benzenepolycarboxylato complexes as a source for photocatalytic active ZnO

Abstract

The synthesis of ZnO via thermal decomposition of a single-source precursor such as ternary Zn complex represents a nonconventional and novel synthetic methodology. Thermally induced changes provide the ability to control the crystal structure, phase composition, morphology and crystallite size of the resulting ZnO nanomaterial. As a precursors for obtaining photocatalytic active ZnO, four Zn complexes with various benzenepolycarboxylates [1] were used. Main aims of this work were to investigate the influence of precursors on particle size and morphology of obtained ZnO nanoparticles, along with its photocatalytic activity. In addition, the mechanism and kinetics of thermal degradation of Zn benzenepolycarboxylato complexes is analyzed under non-isothermal conditions in N2 atmosphere.

Dobijanje ZnO termičkom degradacijom prekursora kao što su ternarni Zn-kompleksi predstavlja nekonvencionalnu i novu metodu sinteze. Termički indukovane promene omogućavaju kontrolu kristalne strukture, faznog sastava, morfologije i veličine kristalita ZnO. Četiri kompleksa Zn sa različitim benzenpolikarboksilatima [1] korišćena su kao prekursori za dobijanje fotokatalitički aktivnog ZnO. Glavni ciljevi ovog rada su utvrđivanje uticaja prekursora na veličinu i morfologiju tako dobijenih nanočestica ZnO, kao i ispitivanje fotokatalitičke aktivnosti. Mehanizam i kinetika termičke degradacije benzenpolikarboksilato-kompleksa Zn analizirana je u neizotermskim uslovima u N2 atmosferi.