Zinc oxide nanoparticles: A significant review on synthetic strategies, characterization and applications

The unique size-dependent material property engineering, together with parallel technological advancements, that facilitates effective handling and management, have all set the tempo for escalating research on nanostructured materials. In particular, semiconductor metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted significant scientific interest, owing to their versatile end applications ranging from antimicrobial to drug delivery, sensors to energy stores and many more. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one such primary wide band gap semiconductor with large exciton binding energies, direct band gap absorption and intrinsic structural defects induced exciton emission. Besides, ZnO NPs are also known to exhibit particle size and morphology dependent confinements, which may often induce entirely new material properties. Herein, an attempt is made to present a detailed review of the synthetic condition dependent material property tuning and hence, related applications of ZnO NPs. Besides, the article also sheds light on characterization tools adopted towards the successful structural elucidation of metal oxide NPs.The unique size-dependent material property engineering, together with parallel technological advancements, that facilitates effective handling and management, have all set the tempo for escalating research on nanostructured materials. In particular, semiconductor metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted significant scientific interest, owing to their versatile end applications ranging from antimicrobial to drug delivery, sensors to energy stores and many more. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one such primary wide band gap semiconductor with large exciton binding energies, direct band gap absorption and intrinsic structural defects induced exciton emission. Besides, ZnO NPs are also known to exhibit particle size and morphology dependent confinements, which may often induce entirely new material properties. Herein, an attempt is made to present a detailed review of the synthetic condition dependent material property tuning and hence, related applications of ZnO NPs. Besides, the article also sheds light on char...