Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt- Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles via Microwave assisted Polyol Method

Abstract

This work involves the synthesis of cobalt zinc oxide nanoparticles using a simple green method and their characterization using various techniques. Green synthesis is carried out using polyol medium and microwave heating. Polyol medium minimizes the use of chemicals while microwaves provided an energy efficient method for heating. Ethylene glycol is used as solvent along with polyvinylpyrrolidone and hydrazinium hydroxide. Domestic microwave oven is used as source for microwaves. Nanoparticles collected after washing are calcined at three different temperatures: 773 K, 973K, 1173 K. They are characterized by using IR spectroscopy, X ray Diffraction, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy. EDS study confirmed composition and empirical formula of the samples calcined at different temperatures. XRD data included peaks for zinc oxide and cobalt oxide at characteristic 2θ values and calculated crystallite size as 32.07 nm at 773 K, 40.33nm at 973K and 56.42 at 1173 K. IR studies confirmed the formation of Zn-O, Co-O bonds and TEM images confirmed homogeneous size distribution. These nanoparticles are suitable for catalytic and antibacterial applications.