Effect of temperature on structural, optical and photoluminescence studies on ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the standard co-precipitation method

Abstract

This present study brings the synthesis of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) by the standard aqueous chemical route technique. The impact of calcination temperature on the extent of the ZnO nanoparticles is studied for its lattice constraints. X-ray diffraction (XRD) affirms the hexagonal Wurtzite structure of the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles. From the Williamson–Hall (W–H) plot, positive slope is inferred for pure and calcined ZnO NPs and confirms the presence of tensile strain. From the SEM images it is found that the crystallinity enhances with calcination temperature. From the optical studies, it is found that the band gap energy decreases with improved transmission. The Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum reveals the UV emission is strong near the band-edge. The emission peaks around 400–480nm result in blue emission and the peaks around 540–560nm result in green emission. Decrease in band gap energy and enhancement in PL studies reveal the red shift of the calcined ZnO exhibiting solid quantum confinements.