A novel synthesis route and phase transformation of Zno nanoparticles modified by DDAB

An improved reverse-micelle preparation method, which is derived from the traditional reversed micelles process was used to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles capped by didodecyldimethyl-ammonium bromide. The processing is simple and efficient, and the ZnO nanoparticles are immediately formed in the microreactors. In situ high-pressure energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction was carried out on the structure phase transition of the ZnO nanoparticles. The results show the transformation pressure increases with the decrease of the size of the ZnO nanoparticles. Based on the previous results, we predict that particle size and surface microstructure are competing processes for the transformation pressure. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.