Freezing-Facilitated Dehydration Allowing Deposition of ZnO from Aqueous Electrolyte.

When an aqueous NaCl solution with low concentrations of transition metal ions is frozen, most of the solutes are concentrated in the freeze concentrated solutions (FCS). However, Zn is often accumulated at sites where other elements are not detected. X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy at the Zn K-edge indicates the formation of ZnO. A possible mechanism for the ZnO formation is discussed.