Abstract

The sonochemical reaction between varying concentrations of zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO<inf>3</inf>)<inf>2</inf>·6H<inf>2</inf>O) and hexamethylenetetramine (C<inf>6</inf>H<inf>12</inf>N<inf>4</inf>) in a 150 W dual transducer sonicator resulted in different phases of zinc compounds. Single phase zinc oxide (ZnO) was exclusively obtained in the case of 0.05 M. By tracking the products synthesized at 50 C, zinc hydroxide (Zn(OH)<inf>2</inf>) was formed in the first 40 min and replaced by ZnO after prolonged sonication. Zn(OH)<inf>2</inf> was also present in a mixed phase with ZnO when the reagent concentration was reduced to 0.01 M. The increase in the synthesis temperature up to 80 C reduced defects and free radicals but introduced zinc hydroxide nitrate hydrate (Zn<inf>5</inf>(OH)<inf>8</inf>(NO<inf>3</inf>) <inf>2</inf>(H<inf>2</inf>O)<inf>2</inf>) which is a dominant phase from the reaction between highly concentrated reagents (0.1 M). High temperature and sonication power in this system tend to cause agglomerations into irregular microparticles. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.