Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400 UPM, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400 UPM, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 3 Wireless and Photonics Network Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400 UPM, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 College of Applied Science, Department of Medical Physics, University of Fallujah, Fallujah 31002, Iraq
  • 5 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400 UPM, Selangor, Malaysia. josephine@upm.edu.my
Materials (Basel), 2019 Jul 18;12(14).
PMID: 31323741 DOI: 10.3390/ma12142295

Abstract

The effect of NaOH solution on the formation of nanoparticles has been the subject of ongoing debate in selenium-based material research. In this project, the robust correlation between the mechanistic growth of zinc selenide/graphene oxide (ZnSe/GO) composite and the concentration of NaOH are elucidated. The ZnSe/GO composite was synthesized via microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and the concentrations of NaOH are controlled at 2 M, 3 M, 4 M, 5 M and 6 M. The XRD spectra show that the crystal phases of the samples exhibited a 100% purity of ZnSe when the concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was set at 4 M. The further increase of NaOH concentration leads to the formation of impurities. This result reflects the essential role of hydroxyl ions in modifying the purity state of ZnSe/GO composite. The optical band gap energy of ZnSe/GO composite also decreased from 2.68 eV to 2.64 eV when the concentration of NaOH increased from 2 M to 4 M. Therefore, it can be concluded that the optimum concentration of NaOH used in synthesizing ZnSe/GO composite is 4 M. This project provides an alternative green method in the formation of a high purity ZnSe/GO composite.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.