Influence of polymer solution on the morphology and local structure of NH₄ZnPO₄ powders synthesized by a simple precipitation method at room temperature

In this work, NH₄ZnPO₄ powders were synthesized by a simple precipitation method at room temperature. The effect of PVP, PVA, sucrose and CTAB solution on the morphology and structure of the prepared samples was investigated. The phase composition and morphology of the prepared samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Depending on the polymer sources, the hexagonal structure prepared by using non-surfactant of water completely changed to monoclinic structure when CTAB was added into the process. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to study the local structure and surface electronic structure of the prepared samples confirming that the oxidation states of P and Zn ions are 5+ and 2+, respectively. By using ICP-OES technique, our NH₄ZnPO₄ powders can be classified as a slow-release fertilizer where less than 15% of the ions was released in 24 h. This study shows that a simple precipitation method using water, PVP, PVA, sucrose and CTAB as a template can be used to synthesize NH₄ZnPO₄ powders. In addition, this method may be extended for the preparation of other oxide materials.