A feasible strategy to balance the crystallinity and specific surface area of metal oxide nanocrystals

• Main Authors: Xu, Shuyan, Xiong, G., Zhang, Q. P., Xu, X. N., Liu, Y. T., Xu, M., Deng, S. H., Chen, Y., Yuan, H., Yu, F., Huang, Y., Zhao, K.
• Other Authors: Institute of Advanced Studies
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Materials for Energy and Catalysis; Nanoscale Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89606; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44989
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Practical, efficient synthesis of metal oxide nanocrystals with good crystallinity and high specific surface area by a modified polymer-network gel method is demonstrated, taking ZnO nanocrystals as an example. A novel stepwise heat treatment yields significant improvement in crystal quality. Such nanophase materials can effectively degrade common organic dyes under solar radiation and can perform very well in photo-assisted detection of NO2 gas. Other typical metal oxide nanocrystals with good crystallinity and high specific surface area were also synthesized successfully under similar conditions. This work provides a general strategy for the synthesis of metal oxide nanocrystals, balancing the crystallinity and specific surface area.