Microwave-assisted Decomposition of two Simple Zinc(II) Schiff Base Complexes: A Facile and Fast Route to Synthesize ZnO Nanostructures

ZnO nanorods and nanoparticles have been easily prepared via the decomposition of two simple Schiff base zinc (II) complexes, namely (N, N'-disalicylalethylenediamine) zince( II) and (N, N'disalicylalphenylenediamine) zince(II) under microwave irradiation. The decomposition products of the complexes were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX and UV-visible spectroscopy. FT-IR, XRD and EDX results confirmed that as-prepared products are pure and single-phase ZnO. SEM images show that the product of each complex was made up of ZnO nanoparticles average diameter size of 50 nm and ZnO nanorods with diameter of 70-100 nm and length up to 3.5 mu m. ZnO nanostructures prepared by present method could be appropriate photocatalytic materials due to a red shift in their band gaps (2.80 and 2.95 eV) compared with the bulk sample (3.37 eV). This method is simple, fast, safe, low-cost and also it is suitable for large-scale preparation of high purity ZnO nanostructures for applied purposes. 2013 JNS All rights reserved