Research on the Lipophilic Degree of Surface Modified ZnO Nanocrystals with Different Morphologies

ZnO nanorods and nanoparticles were successfully modified by NDZ-311w titanate coupling agent. The result of lipophilic degree showed that both ZnO nanocrystals with different morphologies were well lipophilic. Although both values of lipophilic degree firstly became larger and then smaller with the increase of modifier dosage, the different maximal lipophilic degree of ZnO nanorods and nanoparticles could be 68.8% and 77.9%, respectively. By comparing the two curves of lipophilic degree of surface modified ZnO nanocrystals with different morphologies, it could be demonstrated that the optimal dosage of NDZ-311w titanate coupling agent is inversely proportional to the grain size. TEM and XRD results showed that the grain size of ZnO nanoparticles were much smaller than that of ZnO nanorods, which can be the evidence for the equation. Otherwise, the surface modified ZnO nanoparticles displayed better dispersion than unmodified ones.