Impact on The Structural, Morphological Properties, and Band Gap Tuning on Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Substituted By Aluminum

Abstract

In the present study, we report the effect of Aluminum (Al) doping on the properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. The sol-gel method was used to synthesize the pure and Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles. Al doping was done at three different concentrations 3%, 5%, and 7%. The presence of Al, Zn, and O is confirmed by EDX and XPS. The crystal structure and morphologic analysis of prepared nanoparticles using XRD, FESEM, and TEM-SAED techniques. An increase in the doping concentration has reduced the average crystallite size considerably in the range of 18–14 nm. The optical properties have been studied using UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The UV–Vis spectroscopic studies showed that Al was incorporated into the ZnO lattice as Al3+ due to the decreasing optical band gap of nanoparticles. The XPS and EDX analysis is done to confirm the elemental composition of the pure and Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles. The addition of a suitable doping agent will lead to the improvement of structural as well as optical properties. The variation in different properties due to the addition of Alas a dopant is also studied.