Zinc Oxide

Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula ZnO. ZnO is a white powder that is insoluble in water, which is widely used as an additive in numerous materials and products including plastics, ceramics, glass, cement, lubricants, paints, ointments, adhesives, sealants, pigments, foods (source of Zn nutrient), batteries, ferrites, fire retardants, and first aid tapes. It occurs naturally as the mineral zincite but most zinc oxide is produced synthetically.

In materials science, ZnO is a wide-bandgap semiconductor of the II-VI semiconductor group (since oxygen was classed as an element of VIA group (the 6th main group, now referred to as 16th) of the periodic table and zinc, a transition metal, as a member of the IIB (2nd B), now 12th, group). The native doping of the semiconductor (causes are as yet unknown) is n-type. This semiconductor has several favorable properties, including good transparency, high electron mobility, wide bandgap, and strong room-temperature luminescence. Those properties are used in emerging applications for transparent electrodes in liquid crystal displays, in energy-saving or heat-protecting windows, and in electronics as thin-film transistors and light-emitting diodes.