Preparation and Characterization of ZnO Nanoparticles for Thermal Applications

Abstract

Nano particle are dwarf particles with particles size in the range of 1 to 100 nm. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle finds potential application as Ultra violet absorbers, solar collectors, Gas sensors and in heat transfer applications. The properties of nano ZnO depend on method of production and can be tuned with parameters like temperature, purity, starting precursors and surfactant used in processing technique. In the present work ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel technique with acetate precursors and sodium hydroxideis used for control of pH. The Nano ZnO has been characterized by XRD, SEM, UV and FTIR to reveal the features. ZnO nano particles with average crystallite size of 77 nm are identified by XRD. It has a bandgap from 2.6 to 3.1ev. Based on above result we conclude that ZnO nano fluids can serve the purpose of efficient heat transfer liquids and liquids solar cells.