Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures using palm olein as biotemplate

Background: A green approach to synthesize nanomaterials using biotemplates has been subjected to intense research due to several advantages. Palm olein as a biotemplate offers the benefits of eco-friendliness, low-cost and scale-up for large scale production. Therefore, the effect of palm olein on morphology and surface properties of ZnO nanostructures were investigated. Results: The results indicate that palm olein as a biotemplate can be used to modify the shape and size of ZnO particles synthesized by hydrothermal method. Different morphology including flake-, flower- and three dimensional star-like structures were obtained. FTIR study indicated the reaction between carboxyl group of palm olein and zinc species had taken place. Specific surface area enhanced while no considerable change were observed in optical properties. Conclusion: Phase-pure ZnO particles were successfully synthesized using palm olein as soft biotemplating agent by hydrothermal method. The physico-chemical properties of the resulting ZnO particles can be tuned using the ratio of palm olein to Zn cation

Effects of synthetic explanatory variable on saturation magnetization of colloidal nanomagnetite slurry

In this contribution, stable nanomagnetite slurry have been successfully prepared by coprecipitation method. The synthesis parameters, such as reaction temperature, heating time, surfactant concentration and precipitating agent addition rate affected magnetic properties of synthetic nanomagnetite slurries were also investigated. We discovered the optimum reaction parameters based on the highest saturation magnetization obtained under our experimental condition to disperse magnetite nanoparticles in the aqueous medium using dodecanoic acid as a surfactant. The highest saturation magnetization was achieved when 0.5:1 mole ratio of dodecanoic acid to magnetite was used and NH4OH with an addition rate of 5 ml min(-1) was added to the solution while time and temperature for heating were 45 min at 80 degrees C. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Electrocatalytic Activity of Immobilized Co(II) on Porous Graphene Aerogels

The highly-porous graphene aerogel (GA) with BET surface area of 810 m2 g−1 and three-dimensional structure has been successfully fabricated using the hydrothermal technique. The modified glassy carbon electrode was then prepared by casting the graphene aerogel solution followed by immersing the GA/GCE in Co+2 solution. The results showed that graphene aerogels improved the adsorption ability of the Co (II) ions. The electrocatalysis of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the Co-GA modified glassy carbon elec- trode (Co-GA/GCE) has been investigated using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) in alkaline solution. The OER was noticeably enhanced at Co-GA/GCE, representing a negative shift in the LSV curve at the Co-GA/GCE compared to that obtained at the bare GCE. The high electrocatalytic activity, good reproducibility and low cost of proposed electrode provides desired characteristics of a potential candi- date in the industrial water electrolysis process