Aqueous combustion synthesis and characterization of ZnO powders

New organic fuels (β-alanine, valine, zinc acetate and acrylamide) have been successfully tested for the preparation of nanocrystalline ZnO powders via aqueous combustion synthesis. In all cases, ZnO resulted directly from the combustion process and no subsequent annealing was required. Properties of the as-prepared ZnO powders were investigated and it was found that morphology, specific surface area, crystallite size and cumulative volume of pores are determined by the used fuel. A correlation has been found between the total volume of generated gases, adiabatic temperature, the amount of ZnO and the characteristics of the resulting powders. Largest surface area (42.0 m2 g−1) and smallest ZnO crystallite size (21 nm) were obtained for acrylamide.