Chemistry during the anisothermal s

Chemistry during the anisothermal sintering. The microstructural evolution verified that fracture surfaces became significantly less porous and particles underwent more coarsening as the cold sintering progressed (Fig. 1b–e), where the 9-minute sample’s microstructure, density and specific surface area sufficiently implied that the sintering process is already in a final stage. Regarding the phase purity through X-ray diffraction (Fig. S6), zinc acetate complexes are a result of dissolution of zinc oxide powder and acetic acid solution. At elevated temperature, water begins to evaporate, the hydrate becomes anhydrous, and the following reactions may explain different pathways leading to the formation of phase pure ZnO: