Issue 10, 2004
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Self-assembled arrays of ZnO nanoparticles and their application as varistor materials†

Suresh C. Pillai,a   John M. Kelly,*a   Declan E. McCormack*b  and  Raghavendra Rameshc  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemistry, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
E-mail: jmkelly@tcd.ie
Fax: 353-1-6712826
Tel: 353-1-6081947

b School of Chemistry, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin 8, Ireland
E-mail: declan.mccormack@dit.ie
Fax: 353-1-4024989
Tel: 353-1-4024778

c Littelfuse Ireland Ltd., Ecco Road, Dundalk, Ireland

Abstract

Linear arrays of ZnO nanoparticles have been successfully prepared by a simple sol–gel condensation reaction involving chemical modifiers, followed by drying (80 °C) and calcination (500 °C). The calcined material (nano-array ZnO) is composed of approximately spherical nanoparticles of average diameter 21 ± 3 nm, self-assembled to form arrays extending in length to 2–4 µm. The morphology of the ZnO is found to depend sensitively on the amounts of chemical modifiers present. In their absence the ZnO produced (nano-ZnO) is an unstructured agglomerate of nanoparticles. The mechanism for formation of these linear arrays has been investigated by examining the intermediates formed at 80 °C and 250 °C using XRD and TEM and by following the decomposition reactions using TGA and DSC. Varistors prepared from the nano-array ZnO by sintering (1050 °C) with appropriate mixtures of metal oxides showed a breakdown voltage of 786 ± 30 V mm−1, which is substantially higher than that of samples prepared under similar conditions from either micron-sized commercial ZnO (507 ± 30 V mm−1) or from nano-ZnO (683 ± 30 V mm−1).

Graphical abstract: Self-assembled arrays of ZnO nanoparticles and their application as varistor materials

About
Cited by
Related
Download options Please wait...

Supplementary files

Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B400927D
Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Jan 2004
Accepted
11 Mar 2004
First published
14 Apr 2004

J. Mater. Chem., 2004,14, 1572-1578

Permissions

Request permissions

Self-assembled arrays of ZnO nanoparticles and their application as varistor materials

S. C. Pillai, J. M. Kelly, D. E. McCormack and R. Ramesh, J. Mater. Chem., 2004, 14, 1572 DOI: 10.1039/B400927D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements