Tracking the Functional Groups Responsible for the Synthesis of Zinc-oxide Nanoparticles from Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate

Dedication

This work is dedicated to Professor Paul Knochel, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, for his important contribution to Zn chemistry.

Abstract

Heating 1,2-, 1,3- and 1,4-diols with zinc nitrate hexahydrate at 120 °C delivers explosively, after few minutes, zinc oxide nanoparticles as well as gaseous products such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon oxides. They are suspected of being responsible for the formation of nanoparticles. The observed reactivity is dependent upon the alkyl substitution on the diols that leads to suspect but does not prove the formation of organometallic intermediates.

Keywords

Mechanism - Diols - Solution combustion synthesis - ZnO - Nanoparticles

Publication History

Received: 03 September 2025

Accepted after revision: 14 October 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
14 October 2025

Article published online:
16 January 2026

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