Surface modification of zinc oxide nanoparticles by vinyltriethoxy silane (VTES)

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry communications 2021-02, Vol.124, p.108347, Article 108347
• Main Authors: Khurana, Nikhita, Arora, Pinklesh, Pente, Avinash S., Pancholi, Keyur C., Kumar, Virendra, Kaushik, Chetan P., Rattan, Sunita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Dispersion; Nanoparticles; Surface modification; Vinyl triethoxysilane; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 1387-7003; 1879-0259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.inoche.2020.108347

[Display omitted] •The surface modification of zinc oxide nanoparticles was carried out by vinyl triethoxy silane (VTES).•The effect of the various VTES concentrations was studied.•Surface modified ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by means of FTIR, SEM, EDX, TGA, XRD, and contact angle etc.•Surface modified ZnO nanoparticles showed super hydrophobic behaviour after surface modification with VTES. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are hydrophilic in nature and difficult to disperse in polymer matrix due to agglomeration behavior. To disperse the zinc oxide nanoparticles in polymer matrix, it is necessary to modify their surface with hydrophobic groups such as silanes or surfactants. In this article, zinc oxide nanoparticles were modified with various concentration of vinyl triethoxysilane (VTES). To investigate the effect of different concentrations of VTES, on surface modification of zinc oxide nanoparticles, these were characterized using physical characterization techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-rays Spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and contact angle. The results of FTIR, TGA, SEM, EDX and contact angle confirm the surface modification of zinc oxide nanoparticles by VTES. The XRD results show that the crystalline behavior of ZnO nanoparticles was not changed after surface modification by VTES. The crystallite size of surface modified ZnO nanoparticles was calculated using Debye-Scherrer equation and it was found approx 20 nm. In FTIR results, some new peaks at 1409, 1014 and 970 cm−1 were observed as compare to unmodified zinc oxide nanoparticles. In contact angle analysis, it was observed that the surface modified zinc oxide nanoparticles have very high contact angle (greater than150°) in comparison with hydrophilic behavior of unmodified zinc oxide nanoparticles. SEM analysis also showed the improved dispersity of ZnO nanoparticles. Based on characterization results, it was observed that the 15 wt% VTES concentration is suitable to carry out surface modification of ZnO nanoparticles.