Zinc oxide colloids with controlled size, shape, and structure.

Highly dispersed uniform ZnO particles of different sizes and shapes were prepared by slowly adding zinc salt and sodium hydroxide solutions in parallel into aqueous solutions of Arabic gum. Except for the very early stages, the precipitated solids consisted of a well-defined zinc oxide phase. Depending on the experimental conditions, the size of the final polycrystalline particles formed by the aggregation of nanosize entities varied from 100 to 300 nm. The reaction temperature affected both the size of the nanosize precursors and their arrangement in the final particles. At ambient temperature the primary nanoparticles, approximately 10 nm in size, formed spherical aggregates, while at 600 degrees C they were much larger (44 nm) and combined to form rather uniform hexagonal ZnO prisms. The aspect ratio and the internal structure of the latter could be altered by changing the nature of the zinc salt, the addition rate, and the initial concentration of the reactants. Based on the findings of the study a two-stage mechanism for the formation of uniform polycrystalline particles with well-defined geometric shapes is proposed.