Zinc Oxide Synthesis from Extreme Ratios of Zinc Acetate and Zinc Nitrate: Synergistic Morphology.

The synthesis of ZnO comprising different ratios of zinc acetate (ZA) and zinc nitrate (ZN) from the respective zinc precursor solutions was successfully completed via a simple precipitation method. Zinc oxide powders with different mole ratios of ZA/ZN were produced-80/1, 40/1, and 20/1. The crystallinity, microstructure, and optical properties of all produced ZnO powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry.

Novel Solvent-Latex Mixing: Thermal Insulation Performance of Silica Aerogel/Natural Rubber Composite.

In this work, the novel natural rubber latex (NRL) mixing was approached. The mixing process was carried out by using n-hexane as the dispersed phase of silica aerogel which acted as thermal insulation filler prior to NRL mixing. The silica aerogel/NR composites were prepared with different silica aerogel contents of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 parts per hundred rubber (phr).

Oxide nanowires for solar cell applications.

Oxide nanowire arrays were studied for their applications to solar cells. It was demonstrated that the nanowires could provide direct pathways for electron transport in dye-sensitized solar cells and therefore, while forming photoelectrode films, they offered better suppression of charge recombination than nanoparticles. However, the photoelectron films consisting of nanowires suffered a disadvantage in giving large surface area for dye adsorption.