| Summary: | The compound ZnO, or zincite, has a long, fascinating and diverse history displaying a number of peaks and troughs in terms of the degree of research interest, numbers of publications per annum and so forth. These peaks have in some cases been associated with the discovery of a new aspect of its behaviour which is relevant to some scientific or technological focus (such as UV light emission) and the ambitions associated with these technologies. Some of these ambitions have been realized and some, to date, remain ambitions. The general public will most probably know of this material from some of its earlier applications. Zinc oxide was initially known by a variety of names, some of rather unclear origin, including “nihil album”, “flowers of zinc”, “chinese white” and “philosopher’s wool”. The usage of these terms has obviously declined since the standardization of chemical nomenclature since the early 1800’s as discussed by Kent (1958). ZnO is, or has been, used as a pigment in paints and enamel coatings (hence the name “chinese white”) and also as an ingredient in cements, glass, tires, glue, matches, white ink, reagents, photocopy paper, flame retardant, fungicides, cosmetics and dental cements and ~ 100,000 tonnes of ZnO is produced per annum as reported by Klingshirn (2007). These diverse applications rely on various properties of ZnO such as the white colour of the material, its chemical activity, UV blocking capability, heat conductivity and bioactivity. ZnO is used extensively in various pharmaceutical and cosmetic products including ointments and sunscreen preparations (including an appearance in the Hollywood movie “Jaws”, where Brody’s wife enquires if he has remembered to bring the zinc oxide sunscreen before he boards the Orca). ZnO is a material which is used in a very wide variety of applications in a diverse range of technological spaces. In addition to this already impressive technological resume, ZnO is used widely in the semiconductor industry, primarily in varistor manufacture, but also as a ...
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