SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZnO-CNTs FILLED PVA COMPOSITE AS EM DETECTOR

• Main Author: Masuri, Ahmad Fauzie Bin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2009
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/4045/1/FYP_Final_Report.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/4045/

An Electromagnetic (EM) composite based detector filled with ZnO and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) nanoparticles was developed. This work premise deals with synthesis of ZnO using self combustion and sol-gel techniques. These two techniques were chosen in order to compare which technique will give a better result of ZnO nano structure. The mixture consists of 10grams of zinc (II) nitrate, Zn(NO3)2.6H2O salt was dissolved in 50mL of nitric acid, HNO3 and stirred at 250 r.p.m continuously for 24 hours. The mixture was then gradually heated for every 15 minutes until it combusted at 110oC for the self combustion technique. For sol gel technique, the dissolved mixture was heated at 40oC, 50oC, 60oC and 70oC until the gelatin is formed. After drying process, the as-prepared samples were annealed at 150oC and 250 oC for 2 hour for each technique. Morphology and phase characteristic was covered in the characterization part. Characterizations were done by using X-Ray Diffractions (XRD), Energy Dispersion X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). Single phase crystal nano structure of ZnO was successfully obtained. The morphology of ZnO is shown in the nano-size dimension. These samples were used as additive to the PVA composite detector. The PVA composite was prepared using casting method. The result from the testing and validation part shows that the presence of ZnO and CNTs as a filler in the PVA composite detector can enhance the detection up to 70%.