Characterisation of Zinc Oxide and Cadmium Oxide Nanostructures Obtained from the Low Temperature Thermal Decomposition of Inorganic Precursors

Abstract

Low temperature syntheses of zinc oxide and cadmium oxide nanoparticles are reported in this paper. The inorganic precursor complexes were prepared and characterised by hydrazine and metal analyses, infrared spectral analysis, and thermal analysis. Using appropriate annealing conditions, zinc oxide and cadmium oxide nanoparticles of average particle sizes around 13 nm and 30 nm were synthesised from the precursors by a simple thermal decomposition route. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised for their size and structure using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques.