Lanthanide (Eu, Tb, La)-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Whey as an Eco-Friendly Chelating Agent.
Carolina Picasso, Yolanda Salinas, Oliver Brüggemann, Markus Clark Scharber, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, Olavo D F Cardozo, Eriverton S Rodrigues, Marcelo S Silva, Andreas Stingl, Patricia M A Farias
Author Information
Carolina Picasso: Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria. ORCID
Yolanda Salinas: Institute of Polymer Chemistry (ICP), Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria. ORCID
Oliver Brüggemann: Institute of Polymer Chemistry (ICP), Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria.
Markus Clark Scharber: Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Physical Chemistry Institute, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria.
Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci: Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells (LIOS), Physical Chemistry Institute, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria. ORCID
Olavo D F Cardozo: Post-Graduate Program on Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco, Cidade Universitaria, Recife 50670-901, Brazil.
Eriverton S Rodrigues: Post-Graduate Program on Material Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Cidade Universitaria, Recife 50670-901, Brazil.
Marcelo S Silva: Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Sertão Pernambucano, Salgueiro 56000-000, Brazil. ORCID
Andreas Stingl: Phornano Holding GmbH, Kleinengersdorferstrasse 24, 2100 Korneuburg, Austria.
Patricia M A Farias: Post-Graduate Program on Material Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Cidade Universitaria, Recife 50670-901, Brazil. ORCID
Strategies for production and use of nanomaterials have rapidly moved towards safety and sustainability. Beyond these requirements, the novel routes must prove to be able to preserve and even improve the performance of the resulting nanomaterials. Increasing demand of high-performance nanomaterials is mostly related to electronic components, solar energy harvesting devices, pharmaceutical industries, biosensors, and photocatalysis. Among nanomaterials, Zinc oxide (ZnO) is of special interest, mainly due to its environmental compatibility and vast myriad of possibilities related to the tuning and the enhancement of ZnO properties. Doping plays a crucial role in this scenario. In this work we report and discuss the properties of undoped ZnO as well as Lanthanide (Eu, Tb, and La)-doped ZnO nanoparticles obtained by using whey, a by-product of milk processing, as a chelating agent, without using citrate nor any other chelators. The route showed to be very effective and feasible for the affordable large-scale production of both pristine and doped ZnO nanoparticles in powder form.
