US 12312250 B1Patent grantUnited States

Amino-Acid-Assisted Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Official patent title

Synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using L-tryptophan as a fuel

Arabic title: تصنيع جسيمات نانوية من أكسيد الزنك باستخدام L-تريبتوفان وقودًا

Invention

Problem

Conventional nanoparticle synthesis can be costly, complex, or reliant on toxic chemicals, while changes in method and fuel can produce inconsistent particle size and morphology.

Why it matters

Controlled zinc oxide morphology and porosity matter for catalysts, sensors, coatings, semiconductors, and environmental materials whose behavior depends strongly on surface and size.

Approach

The method uses aqueous zinc precursor and L-tryptophan solutions in a fuel-combustion route. Heating forms a dry powder that is calcined into substantially spherical, mesoporous zinc oxide nanoparticles with specified size, pore-volume, pore-diameter, crystallite, and surface-area characteristics.

Who may benefit

Potential beneficiaries include zinc oxide producers, nanomaterials laboratories, catalyst and sensor developers, semiconductor researchers, and environmental-remediation materials teams.

Potential value

The process combines water-based precursor preparation, an amino-acid fuel, defined calcination, and experimentally characterized spherical mesoporous zinc oxide in one synthesis route.

Background

Zinc oxide nanoparticles are studied for electronics, optoelectronics, sensing, solar cells, lasers, coatings, and catalysis because of their stability, broad radiation absorption, photostability, and semiconductor behavior. Established sol-gel, hydrothermal, solvothermal, and vapor-deposition routes can involve complex procedures, expense, or hazardous chemicals. Combustion synthesis can be faster and less energy-intensive, but fuel choice affects gas generation, agglomeration, particle size, and morphology. The publication therefore evaluates L-tryptophan as the fuel in an aqueous zinc-precursor process.

Technology overview

An aqueous zinc-precursor solution is mixed with aqueous L-tryptophan and heated, including a 120 °C embodiment, until a dry combustion powder forms. Calcination at 650–850 °C converts the powder to zinc oxide. The disclosure defines fuel-to-precursor ratios and reports particle, crystallite, pore, and BET surface-area values. X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption are used to characterize phase, morphology, size distribution, and mesoporosity.

Potential applications

Mesoporous zinc oxide for catalyst and environmental-material research.
Nanoparticle layers on substrates or semiconductors for device studies.
Characterized zinc oxide powders for optical and sensor development.
Combustion-synthesis research using an amino acid as fuel.

Evidence-supported advantages

The precursor and L-tryptophan are combined in aqueous solutions.
The method yields substantially spherical zinc oxide with defined mesoporosity.
Fuel ratio, drying temperature, calcination temperature, and heating rate are specified.
XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, and nitrogen-sorption characterization are described.
The method includes an embodiment for forming a nanoparticle layer on a substrate.

Development stage

Laboratory synthesis with XRD, electron-microscopy, and nitrogen-sorption characterization is described; commercial-scale production was not established.

Commercial opportunity

The route may interest zinc oxide and specialty-nanomaterial producers. Scale-up should verify batch yield, phase purity, agglomeration control, size distribution, calcination energy, amino-acid and precursor cost, powder handling, reproducibility, and application-specific catalytic, optical, electrical, or sensing performance. Market positioning also requires comparative benchmarking.

Patent classifications

WIPO IPC

C01G9/02Compounds containing metals not covered by subclasses C01D or C01F

CPC

C01G9/02Compounds containing metals not covered by subclasses C01D or C01F
C01P2002/01Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2002/60Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2004/04Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2006/12Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2002/72Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2006/16Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2004/03Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2006/14Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2006/40Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds
C01P2004/64Indexing scheme for structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds

Inventors

First inventorEhab Abdelhamed Abdelrahman Ahmed
InventorBabiker Yagoub Elhadi Abdulkhair

Keywords

zinc oxide
nanoparticles
L-tryptophan
combustion synthesis
mesoporous
calcination
BET surface area
nanomaterials

Patent document and drawings

The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.