Influence of Iron Dopant on Structure, Surface Morphology and Optical Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles

Abstract

Pure and two different concentration of Iron (Fe) doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (Zn(1-x)FexO) with x = 0.03 and 0.05 were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. The structural characterizations of the samples were done by X-ray powder Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). XRD data indicate that the replacement of Zn2+ ion by Fe3+ ion does not influence the wurtzite structure of ZnO samples. With increase in annealing temperature the intensity of the Zn(1-x)FexO (0 0 2) diffraction peak increases, indicating that the crystallinity quality of the particle improves. Using Scherrer equation the average particle sizes of Zn(1-x)FexO are calculated. The strain-induced broadening at Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the XRD profile of Zn(1-x)FexO were estimated from Williamson Hall (W-H) plot. The results of SEM apparently show that the sample comprises of highly agglomerated particles with no definite shape. Optical absorption Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) and Photo Luminescence (PL) properties have been characterized and the effect of Fe addition on optical properties of ZnO has been discussed.