Synthesis of ZnO and Zn nanoparticles in microwave plasma and their deposition on glass slides

This work represents a new method to synthesis of ZnO and/or Zn nanoparticles by means of microwave plasma whose electrons are the reducing agents. Glass quadratic slides sized 2.5×2.5 cm were coated by ZnO and/or Zn particles whose sizes ranged from a few micrometers to ∼20 nm. The size of the particles can be controlled by the type of the precursor and its concentration. In the current paper, the mechanism of the reactions of ZnO and/or Zn formation was proposed. Longer plasma irradiation and lower precursor concentration favor the fabrication of metallic Zn nanoparticles. The nature of the precursor;s ion (acetate, nitrate, or chloride) is also of importance in determining the composition of the product. The glass slides coated by ZnO and/or Zn nanoparticles were characterized by HR-SEM, HR-TEM, AFM, XRD, ESR, contact angle and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS).