On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS
Pyroelectric materials can harvest energy from naturally occurring ambient temperature changes, as well as from artificial temperature changes, notably from industrial activity. Wurtzite- based materials have the advantage of being cheap, non-toxic, and offering excellent opto-electrical properties....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/3/715 |
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| author | Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen Amelia Montone Loris Pietrelli Luciano Pilloni |
| author_facet | Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen Amelia Montone Loris Pietrelli Luciano Pilloni |
| author_sort | Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Pyroelectric materials can harvest energy from naturally occurring ambient temperature changes, as well as from artificial temperature changes, notably from industrial activity. Wurtzite- based materials have the advantage of being cheap, non-toxic, and offering excellent opto-electrical properties. Due to their non-centrosymmetric nature, all wurtzite crystals have both piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. Nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS, being a room temperature stable material, by contrast to its bulk counterpart, is interesting due to its still not well-explored potential in piezoelectric and pyroelectric energy harvesting. An easy synthesis method—a co-precipitation technique—was selected and successfully tailored for nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS production. ZnS nanopowder with nanoparticles of 3 to 5 nm in size was synthesized in ethyl glycol under medium temperature conditions using ZnCl<sub>2</sub> and thiourea as the sources of Zn and S, respectively. The purified and dried ZnS nanopowder was characterized by conventional methods (XRD, SEM, TEM, TG and FTIR). Finally, a constructed in-house pilot plant that is able to produce substantial amounts of wurtzite ZnS nanopowder in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way is introduced and described. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:17:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8d198d232fd4fc1affb1e9b8efb28e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:17:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8d198d232fd4fc1affb1e9b8efb28e32023-11-21T10:16:02ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912021-03-0111371510.3390/nano11030715On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnSRadenka Krsmanović Whiffen0Amelia Montone1Loris Pietrelli2Luciano Pilloni3ENEA, Materials Technology Division, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, ItalyENEA, Materials Technology Division, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyENEA, Materials Technology Division, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, ItalyPyroelectric materials can harvest energy from naturally occurring ambient temperature changes, as well as from artificial temperature changes, notably from industrial activity. Wurtzite- based materials have the advantage of being cheap, non-toxic, and offering excellent opto-electrical properties. Due to their non-centrosymmetric nature, all wurtzite crystals have both piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. Nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS, being a room temperature stable material, by contrast to its bulk counterpart, is interesting due to its still not well-explored potential in piezoelectric and pyroelectric energy harvesting. An easy synthesis method—a co-precipitation technique—was selected and successfully tailored for nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS production. ZnS nanopowder with nanoparticles of 3 to 5 nm in size was synthesized in ethyl glycol under medium temperature conditions using ZnCl<sub>2</sub> and thiourea as the sources of Zn and S, respectively. The purified and dried ZnS nanopowder was characterized by conventional methods (XRD, SEM, TEM, TG and FTIR). Finally, a constructed in-house pilot plant that is able to produce substantial amounts of wurtzite ZnS nanopowder in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way is introduced and described.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/3/715zinc sulfidewurtziteco-precipitation synthesissolvent recyclinggreen synthesisscaling up |
| spellingShingle | Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen Amelia Montone Loris Pietrelli Luciano Pilloni On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS Nanomaterials zinc sulfide wurtzite co-precipitation synthesis solvent recycling green synthesis scaling up |
| title | On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS |
| title_full | On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS |
| title_fullStr | On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS |
| title_full_unstemmed | On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS |
| title_short | On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS |
| title_sort | on tailoring co precipitation synthesis to maximize production yield of nanocrystalline wurtzite zns |
| topic | zinc sulfide wurtzite co-precipitation synthesis solvent recycling green synthesis scaling up |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/3/715 |
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