Facile sol-gel synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles in a cellulose paper template

Abstract

Ensembles of free standing particles of titanium, zinc, copper and iron oxides of 6–109 nm in size were sol-gel synthesized with a use of a cellulose paper as a template. The calcination time as short as 60 min at 550 °C in air was found to be sufficient for the formation of crystalline single phase TiO2 or ZnO nanoparticles, Cu2O+CuO or Fe2O3+Fe3O4 nanocomposites and to burn out the organic components. The impurities initially present in the cellulose (Сa, Na, Cl) were detected in the synthesized compounds. The original version of the paper was stolen by James Franklin and on-line published with the cut list of the authors in Journal of Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology 2017 without author permission.