Surface modification of zinc oxide nanoparticles by aminopropyltriethoxysilane

Commercial zinc oxide nanoparticles (20–30 nm) were coated by aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) under varying environments. Three different processes, acidic, basic and toluene were used. The effects of coating conditions (acidic, basic and toluene) on the grafting, structural and optical properties of these nanoparticles were studied. In the three cases, it was possible to control the coating and according to X-ray diffraction, BET, TEM and SEM results, it is clear that the APTES coating plays a role of growth inhibitor even at 800 °C. From diffuse reflectance measurements, one can notice that the grafting process did not modify the transmittance spectra of ZnO.