Issue 3, 2012

Effects of surface chemistry on the morphology transformation of ZnWO4nanocrystals: investigated from experiment and theoretical calculations

Abstract

The morphology of the nanocrystals is a critical parameter for determining their performance in particular applications. In our experimental work, ZnWO4 nanocrystals with different morphologies are synthesized by the hydrothermal method. It has been found that the shape of ZnWO4 nanocrystals is strongly dependent upon the pH of the growth solution. Combining the experimental findings, first-principles calculations are used to investigate the microscopic mechanism of morphology transformation of ZnWO4 nanocrystals controlled by surface chemistry. Surface structures, surface energies and surface tensions of several low-index surfaces of ZnWO4 under the different surface passivated conditions are examined. The surface energies of (010) and (011) facets are increased when the fraction of hydroxyl in the adsorbates is increased. The (100) surface is consistently the highest energy surface except for the most-basic conditions. According to the Wulff law, the equilibrium shapes of ZnWO4 nanocrystals are obtained from the respective surface energies. Our results show that the effect of surface chemistry on the morphology of ZnWO4 nanocrystals is apparent. The aspect ratio of the nanocrystals is reduced gradually when the basicity of the surface conditions is increased, which is consistent with our experimental findings. A modified Wulff construction model which considers the effect of surface tension draws the same conclusions. Our investigations are meaningful to gain further understanding of how to achieve shape-controlled nanocrystal synthesis by tuning the surface chemistry.

Graphical abstract: Effects of surface chemistry on the morphology transformation of ZnWO4 nanocrystals: investigated from experiment and theoretical calculations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Aug 2011
Accepted
13 Oct 2011
First published
25 Nov 2011

CrystEngComm, 2012,14, 920-928

Effects of surface chemistry on the morphology transformation of ZnWO4 nanocrystals: investigated from experiment and theoretical calculations

P. Li, X. Zhao, Y. Li, H. Sun, L. Sun, X. Cheng, X. Hao and W. Fan, CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 920 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE06122D

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