TY - CONF A1 - Saloga, Patrick E. J. T1 - SAXS in Analysis of Ultra-small Size-adjustable Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Controlled Band Gap Engineering N2 - Zinc oxide (ZnO) as a wide-bandgap II-VI semiconductor finds application in areas like optoelectronics, photocatalysis as well as in detection systems. While band-gap engineering in macroscopic ZnO can be performed by alloying, the band-gap of ZnO nanoparticles is also dependent on their size. Since small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) provides a much higher resolution in terms of ultra-small nanoparticle size analysis compared to other techniques, it allows for a careful examination of the correlation between particle size and band-gap. We report on the microwave-assisted synthesis of oleate-capped, photoluminescent zinc oxide nanoparticles with adjustable size as dispersions in organic solvents. The spherical particles were obtained by hydrolysis of the metal precursor in presence of a strong base at temperatures above the solvent’s boiling point. Hence, the reaction is dramatically accelerated and within seconds – instead of hours at lower temperatures –, narrowly dispersed particle systems are yielded. The particles’ sizes as derived from SAXS strongly depend on the reaction temperature and time. Choosing the right reaction conditions, the particle size and thus their band gap can be finely tuned. A size increase can be achieved both by increasing the reaction temperature and the reaction time. See Figure 1 for an exemplary comparison of five-minute syntheses at different temperatures. Here, the yielded particles display diameters between 5.0 and 7.6 nm and corresponding band-gaps of 3.32 up to 3.41 eV. The size increase is accompanied by a red-shift of the UV/Vis absorption edges and fluorescence emission. Furthermore, these particles can be transferred into water by coating with polysorbates. T2 - SAS2018 XVII International Small Angle Scattering Conference CY - Traverse City, Michigan, USA DA - 07.10.2018 KW - SAXS KW - Zinc oxide nanoparticles KW - Microwave synthesis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46348 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Saloga, Patrick E. J. A1 - Thünemann, Andreas T1 - Size-selective microwave-assisted synthesis of pure zinc oxide nanoparticles for precise band gap engineering N2 - Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles find manifold applications, most prominently in photovoltaics, where their unique optical properties are exploited. Particularly important are their band gap energy of 3.37 eV, which can be widely tuned through doping, and a large exciton binding energy of 60 mV. As a wide-bandgap II-VI semiconductor, the optical band gap energy and fluorescence energy become size-dependent when moving to particle radii of a few nanometers. To gain a deeper insight into this issue, we report on a microwave-assisted, size-selective synthesis of pure ZnO nanoparticles. By hydrolysis of the metal precursor in presence of a strong base at temperatures exceeding the solvent’s boiling point, the reaction is dramatically accelerated, and narrowly dispersed, spherical particles are yielded within seconds – instead of hours at lower temperatures. The determination of their size distributions in high resolution using small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) allows for a precise mapping of the optical properties (UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence) to particle size. We observed that the mean particle radii increase from 2.6 ± 0.1 nm with increasing synthesis temperature from 125 °C to 200 °C. This is accompanied by a red shift of the optical band gap and the fluorescence energies, the latter of which can be seen in Figure 1. Thus, undoped ZnO nanoparticles with narrow size distributions and pre-defined size as well as optical properties can be obtained through a microwave-assisted synthesis. T2 - 6th Nano Today Conference CY - Lisbon, Portugal DA - 16.06.2019 KW - SAXS KW - Zinc oxide nanoparticles KW - Microwave synthesis PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48340 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Saloga, Patrick E. J. A1 - Thünemann, Andreas T1 - Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Ultrasmall Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles N2 - We report on ultrasmall zinc oxide single-crystalline nanoparticles of narrow size distribution and long-term colloidal stability. These oleate-stabilized nanoparticles were synthesized using microwave-assisted synthesis for 5 min, corresponding to a 99% decrease in synthesis time, when compared to the conventional synthesis method. It was observed that the average particle radius increases from 2.6 ± 0.1 to 3.8 ± 0.1 nm upon increasing synthesis temperature from 125 to 200 °C. This change also corresponded to observed changes in the optical band gap and the fluorescence energy of the particles, from 3.44 ± 0.01 to 3.36 ± 0.01 eV and from 2.20 ± 0.01 to 2.04 ± 0.01 eV, respectively. Small-angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering, and UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy were employed for particle characterization. Debye–Scherrer analysis of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern reveals a linear increase of the crystallite size with synthesis temperature. The consideration of the convolution of a Lorentz function with a Gaussian function for data correction of the instrumental peak broadening has a considerable influence on the values for the crystallite size. Williamson–Hall XRD analyses in the form of the uniform deformation model, uniform stress deformation model, and uniform deformation energy density model revealed a substantial increase of strain, stress, and deformation energy density of the crystallites with decreasing size. Exponential and power law models were utilized for quantification of strain, stress, and deformation energy density. KW - SAXS KW - Zinc oxide KW - Microwave synthesis KW - Nanoparticles PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01921 SN - 0743-7463 VL - 35 IS - 38 SP - 12469 EP - 12482 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, D.C., USA AN - OPUS4-49136 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Saloga, Patrick E. J. A1 - Kästner, Claudia A1 - Thünemann, Andreas T1 - Microwave-assisted high-speed silver nanoparticle synthesis N2 - Ever since increasing a reaction’s yield while shortening the reaction time is the main objective in synthesis optimization. Microwave reactors meet these demands. In literature however their usage is under discussion due to claims of the existence of non-thermal effects resulting from the microwave radiation. Especially for nano-reference-material syntheses it is of crucial importance to be aware of influences on the reaction pathway. Therefore, we compare ultra-small silver nanoparticles with mean radii of 3 nm, synthesized via conventional and microwave heating. We employed a versatile one-pot polyol synthesis of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) stabilized silver nanoparticles, which display superior catalytic properties. No microwave specific effects in terms of particle size distribution characteristics, as derived by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), are revealed. Due to the microwave reactor’s characteristics of a closed system, syntheses can be carried out at temperatures beyond the solvent’s boiling point. Particle formation was accelerated by a factor of 30 by increasing the reaction temperature from 200 °C to 250 °C. The particle growth process follows a cluster coalescence mechanism. A post-synthetic incubation step at 250 °C induces a further growth of the particles while the size distribution broadens. Thus, utilization of microwave reactors enables an enormous decrease of the reaction time as well as the opportunity of tuning the particles’ size. Possibly, decomposition of the stabilizing ligand at elevated temperatures results in reduced yields. A temperature of 250 °C and a corresponding reaction time of 30 s represent a compromise between short reaction times and high yields. T2 - NanoWorkshop 2018 (Workshop on Reference Nanomaterials. Current situation and needs: development, measurement, standardization) CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 14.05.2016 KW - SAXS KW - Microwave synthesis KW - Silver nanoparticles PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44904 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Saloga, Patrick E. J. A1 - Kästner, Claudia A1 - Thünemann, Andreas T1 - High-speed but not magic: Microwave-assisted synthesis of ultra-small silver nanoparticles N2 - Reaction procedures have been improved to achieve higher yields and shorter reaction times: one possibility is the usage of microwave reactors. In the literature, this is under discussion, for example, nonthermal effects resulting from the microwave radiation are claimed. Especially for the synthesis of nanomaterials, it is of crucial importance to be aware of influences on the reaction pathway. Therefore, we compare the syntheses of ultra-small silver nanoparticles via conventional and microwave heating. We employed a versatile one-pot polyol synthesis of poly(acrylic acid)-stabilized silver nanoparticles, which display superior catalytic properties. No microwave-specific effects in terms of particle size distribution characteristics, as derived by small-angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering, are revealed. Because of the characteristics of a closed system, microwave reactors give access to elevated temperatures and pressures. Therefore, the speed of particle formation can be increased by a factor of 30 when the reaction temperature is increased from 200 to 250 °C. The particle growth process follows a cluster coalescence mechanism. A postsynthetic incubation step at 250 °C induces a further growth of the particles while the size distribution broadens. Thus, utilization of microwave reactors enables an enormous decrease of the reaction time as well as the opportunity of tuning the particle size. Possibly, decomposition of the stabilizing ligand at elevated temperatures results in reduced yields. A compromise between short reaction times and high yields can be found at a temperature of 250 °C and a corresponding reaction time of 30 s. KW - Silver nanoparticles KW - SAXS KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - Microwave synthesis PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-437028 SN - 0743-7463 SN - 1520-5827 VL - 34 IS - 1 SP - 147 EP - 153 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, D.C. AN - OPUS4-43702 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -