Effect of citric acid chelating agent on morphology of ZnO particles prepared by hydrothermal method

Abstract Zinc oxide is one of the most widely used and important materials in today's science and industry. In this study, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Zinc acetate, citric acid and deionized water was respectively used as a source of zinc ion, solvent and chelating agent. In this study, the effect of citric acid concentration as an additive was studied on morphology and particle size of ZnO. The synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) ,infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and specific surface analysis (BET).The results of XRD analysis showed, the final products have hexagonal structure and are Single-phase. Increasing additive concentration changes the intensity of peaks and crystallizes rate.The results of FTIR and its comparison with existing functional groups confirmed the absence of citric acid in the final product. And the functional groups are just related to pure zinc oxide. SEM images showed that the use of chelating agent affects the growth of particles and morphology. BET showed noticeable changes in the specific surface area of synthesized samples in the presence of chelating agent.