Impact of Annealing Temperature on Structural, Morphological, Photoconductivity of Aluminum Doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) Nanorods Prepared by Microwave Assisted Precipitation Method

P Gowrisankar,P Ramesh Kumar,V Balaprakash

doi:10.17485/ijst/2019/v12i27/123276

Abstract

Objectives: The AZO nanoparticles are prepared by novel microwave assisted precipitation method with varying annealing temperature. Methods/Findings: The research work explores preparation and Structural, Morphological and Photoconductivity investigations of aluminum doped Zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles. Structural, Morphological and Optical Characteristics are examined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and UV Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis) respectively. The XRD analysis reveals that the crystallite size was 42.3 nm, 45.2 nm and 50.7 nm for the annealing temperatures of 450 °C, 600 °C and 750 °C. The shape of the nanoparticles observed in hexagonal wurzite format. The maximum level of peaks is observed in (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), (103), (200), (112), (201), (004) and (202) planes for various annealing temperatures. The SEM image indicates that the morphology has rod shape structure. The optical absorbance spectra of AZO nanoparticles were about 384.00 nm. The FTIR spectra shows the presence of aluminum content in the synthesized nanoparticles. Applications: The prepared AZO nanoparticles can be applied to prepare the gas sensors. Keywords: Nanorods, AZO, EDAX, SEM, FTIR, XRD

Highlights

ZnO is an N type semiconductor having direct energy band gap (3.37 eV) and high binding energy (60 meV)[1]
The structural analysis of 1 at % of synthesized aluminum doped Zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles for different annealing temperature were examined in X-RD pattern (XPERT- PRO, 30mA, 40kV) with range from 20-80 degree
Among these intense peaks appeared at (101) for all the annealing temperatures. It shows that the synthesized AZO nanoparticles were in hexagonal wurtzite structure perfect orientation

Summary

Introduction

ZnO is an N type semiconductor having direct energy band gap (3.37 eV) and high binding energy (60 meV)[1]. ZnO nanoparticles can be used in sensors, catalysis, water purification, antibacterial, nano electronics, solar energy, cosmetics, paints, synthetic textiles, food packaging, medical care, healthcare, tooth paste, detergent and sun screen. At room temperature the electrical resistivity of the Zinc oxide was in the order of 0.75 MΩ. The resistivity of the ZnO material can be reduced by doping with group – III materials. Zinc oxide materials can be doped with group – III material such as Ga, In, B and Al. In this work, aluminum is doped with ZnO nanoparticles. AZO is a valuable alternative to ITO materials. It has increased optical transmittance and low electrical resistance[2]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion