Investigation on Thermal Properties of CuO–ZnO Nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanocomposites have attracted the attention of scientists and engineers for their tunable properties and extended applications. ZnO has been used as a dominant candidate for solar cell, gas sensing and piezoelectric applications. Addition of CuO can enhance the solar absorption capacity of ZnO nanostructures. In the present work, nanocomposites of CuO–ZnO have been synthesized from copper sulphate and zinc acetate by sol gel. The annealing temperature was varied at 200, 400 and 600 °C to study the temperature dependence on morphology and thermal properties. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM and FTIR. It was found that the crystallite size increased, when temperature was increased from 200 to 600 °C. Increase in temperature showed decreased CuO phase and tunable thermal expansion of the composite (0.0115–0.0025/°C).