Investigation of the structural and electrical behaviour of Mn-substituted ZnO

Abstract

ABSTRACT Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures with the general formula Zn1-xMnxO were made using a simple and affordable wet chemical coprecipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to examine the structure and morphology of the produced samples. All of the prepared oxides were found to have a single crystalline phase that is ZnO-specific and has a wurtzite structure. It is found that DC conductivity rises with temperature and a steady drop in both AC and DC conductivity with Mn concentration is seen, which might be attributed to the creation of a grain boundary defect barrier. Complex impedance analysis is used to distinguish the grain and grain boundary contribution to the system. The parameters dielectric constant (k) and dielectric loss (tan δ) decreased as the frequency increased, and as the Mn concentration increased. With increasing temperatures, the dielectric constant and loss both increased.