Formation of ZnO Nanocrystals and Their In Situ Generation on Textile Material via Solochemical Method

ZnO nanocrystals were prepared by a rapid and low-cost solochemical method using a heated alkaline solution and a zinc precursor under different temperatures. In addition, In Situ syntheses of ZnO nanostructures on cotton fabrics were also carried out by the solochemical technique at 50 °C and 90 °C. The successful formation of ZnO nanocrystals was confirmed employing X-ray diffraction, Rietveld analyses, transmission electron microscopy, UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The analysis of the modified textile surface was performed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). TEM images have shown that with the increase of temperature the ZnO nanocrystals grew smaller and became rounded due to a faster nucleation rate at high temperatures. The TEM analyses also revealed that the amount of zinc has a noteworthy influence on the ZnO nanocrystals formation. Regarding the modified textile samples, SEM photographs revealed that the cotton fibers were covered with ZnO nanostructures, especially the samples immersed into the reactional solution after 1 h (90 °C) and after 2 h (50 °C) of reaction.