Solvothermal synthesis of nanocrystalline zinc oxide doped with Mn2+, Ni2+, Co2+ and Cr3+ ions

ZnO nanopowders doped with Mn²⁺, Ni²⁺, Co²⁺ and Cr³⁺ ions have been synthesised for the first time using a solvothermal reaction with microwave heating. The nanopowders were produced from a solution of zinc acetate and manganese (II), chromium (III), nickel (II) and cobalt (II) acetates, using ethylene glycol as a solvent. The content of Ni²⁺, Co²⁺ and Cr³⁺ ions in the solution and in the solid phase were close to each other up to 5 mol%. The doping level of Mn²⁺ ions in the solid is about 50% of that in the solution. No phases or compounds other than ZnO were detected by X-ray diffraction with Mn²⁺, Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ doping. With Cr³⁺ ions a small amount of chromium oxide was found. None of the powders displayed any luminescence after doping. The Mn²⁺-doped powder displayed a paramagnetic behaviour. ESR and magnetisation investigations have revealed that no clustering of Mn²⁺ ions occurred up to a doping level of 3.9 mol%. The average grain size of powders doped with Ni²⁺, Cr³⁺, Co²⁺ and Mn²⁺ for a 10 mol% ion content in the solution was about 20 nm and the grain size dispersion 30%. With increasing dopant content the grain size decreased. It appears that the solvothermal process employed allows relatively high doping levels of the transition metal ions to be achieved without any dopant clustering or oxide precipitation.     

Utilisation of enzymatic reactions in Al2O3 powder moulding process

Direct Coagulation Casting (DCC) method was applied for an alumina powder molding. In the paper the results of studies on the application of the reaction of acetic acid generation from glycerol triacetate catalyzed by lipase PPL for the flocculation of ceramic slips are presented. The ceramic samples obtained according this method were homogenous of a low content of organic binder (below 0.5 mass%), high tensile strength in the green state (>1 MPa) and high uniformity of thickening and a uniform structure. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.