Electrochemical properties modulation of Zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

The influence of zinc salts precursors (nitrate, acetate, chloride) on the electroactivity of the synthesised Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) was investigated using Glassy carbon ZnONPs modified electrode (ZnONPs films). The precipitation synthesised ZnONPs ‘s optical, morphological, size and Structural properties were assessed by usual spectroscopical technique. The XRD data confirmed synthesis of The ZnONPs which were predominately Zincite except for the nitrate product (zincite, ZHNH). All the NPs were of smaller size with the highest diameter size of 0.25 μM and lowest 0.066 μM for nitrate and chloride NPs respectively. All had good electroactivity, with rate constants (ks) above 1 × 10−2 indicating fast reversible reactions, values ranged from 0.6152 to 0.7515 for Zn(NO3) and Zn(CH3COO)2 respectively. Excellent opto-electric properties were observed with the nitrate product that had the highest band gaps (∼3.7 eV), DPV current(,7.57 × 10−7 A) ΔEp, diffusion coefficient (De) (3.120 × 10−1(cm2/s (Ariyanta et al., 2022) [5]) and rate constant (0.62 S-1). In addition it had the lowest resistance as indicated by the Rs value (1.13 kΩ) below the bare electrode value lowest Rct (444.77 kΩ) and CPE (3.00 × 10−6 F). For fabrication of sensors and batteries where low resistance and conductivity are essential, ZnONPs using Nitrate is ideal.