Hi. I am now using the hydrothermal method to grow ZnO nanorods at room temperature.
I have made an aqueous solution containing 0.01 M zinc acetate dehydrate (99.999%, Sigma-Aldrich) and 0.05M hexamethylene-tetramine (HMTA, 99%, Sigma-Aldrich) in DI water.
When I pour the chemical into the DI water while stirring, it looks like they dissolved perfectly for a short time, but after a few seconds, there are white floating threadlike particles that appear in the solution.
I stirred the solution for a long time (15m~30m), but the threadlike particles didn't remove at all. They just became smaller.
Do you guys know how can I remove those particles and make a clear solution for growing perfectly grown ZnO nanorods?
And does this solution affected by the weather?
Dear Ju
Since you are using zinc acetate, after dissolving this salt in water you have free acetate ions. Acetate is then hydrolysed to produce hydroxyl ions which react with zinc to give Zn(OH)2 as white material in your reaction.
You can either use other salt of zinc, such as chloride or nitrate or add few drops of HCl to prevent acetate hydrolysis.
Good luck.
Dear Ju Han,
You can used one of the things: zinc acetate dihydrate, decreses the solution concentration (such as 0.05mol/l), or add few drops of HCl to prevent acetate hydrolysis.
Greetings
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