daragh8008 - 7-7-2009 at 05:25
Hi,
I recently read that microwaves ovens can be used to grow metal oxide nanostructures and was a fast and easy method. I was wondering if anyone has
tried this. I gave it a go, using hexamethylytetramine and zinc nitrate 25mM solution on ZnO seed quartz substrates. The first batch turned out fine
but 1/4 way through the second lot my microwave gave a loud bang then stopped working. The substrates were submerged in 80ml of the reaction solution
in a lab glass beaker.
Now most of the papers in this area use lab microwaves while I was using a standard domestic microwave. Have I missed something or was it just time
for my microwave to go....
!
All suggestions welcome.
12AX7 - 7-7-2009 at 05:27
The easy way to explode a microwave is to underload it. I'm guessing you weren't abosrbing enough radiation. Should've had a glass of water in there
to absorb the extra.
Tim
daragh8008 - 7-7-2009 at 05:32
OK THat sounds possible. So if I stick an extra big glass of water in with the reaction mixture, I should be ok to redo the experiements on a new or
repair oven with out the same thing happening. The reason I'm so hung up on this method is that it really is fantastic compared to regular chemical
bath deposition. Don't seem to get half the debris on my substrates 
Fleaker - 11-7-2009 at 09:58
Eh, doing this in a domestic microwave isn't exactly the safest thing to do because it lacks the feedback loop of which regulates power to maintain a
set pressure and temperature. U2U me and we can talk more about it or perhaps if you have very specific questions, ask them!
I do microwave-assisted polymerizations and syntheses on a daily basis.