Novel synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles from Type IV Deep Eutectic Solvents

One of the fields where DES show remarkable added-values is the synthesis of inorganic materials, in particular nanoparticles. In this field, the inherent and highly-tunable nano-homogeneities of DES structure give origin to a marked templating effect, a precious role that has led to the recent bloom of a vast number of studies exploiting these new synthesis media to prepare nanomaterials and composite structures of various kinds. In this contribution, three examples of synthesis of nanoparticles containing zinc, using metal type-IV Deep Eutectic Solvents, a pathway that has never been explored so far, is described. The prepared materials have layered shapes, and when zinc nitrate is used as DES component, pure layered ZnO is obtained, forming nanometric platelets that assemble to form flower-like aggregates. The prepared nanoparticles show intrinsic fluorescence, and are being further studied to set up sensors for the detection of various contaminants.