Effect of Cu and Co Dopıng on the Structural Propertıes of ZnO Nanopartıcles

Abstract

Cu_xCo_0.1Zn0_.9-xO nanoparticles with different doping concentration (x=0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) has been successfully synthesized by microwave assisted combustion synthesis method using urea as a fuel. The structural, morphological, and compositional properties of these nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopes (FE-SEM JEOL-7001), and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), respectively. The structural properties showed the formation of Wurtzite structure of ZnO,with nine prominent peaks in which the strong diffraction peaks appear in (100), (002) and (101), respectively, thereis a trace related to the Cu ions is observed and its diffraction peak increase with an increase in Cu concentration. The average size of the nanoparticles was estimated using Debye-Scherrer’s equation where the average size lie between 32.65 and 41.15nm. Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) showed that smaller crystallites have sizes smaller than 100nm, no indication of phase separation and little agglomeration was observed. Moreover, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed that the chemical composition of the samples tallies with the synthesis results.

Keywords: Nanoparticles, Zinc oxide, Semiconductor, Combustion synthesis method, Structural properties