Structural co-related optical properties of Al and Cu co-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is known to exhibit multifunctional properties for a variety of applications, including gas sensing, light-emitting diodes, optoelectronics and transparent electronics. Doping in ZnO may induce defect states, thereby influencing its physical properties. Here, the simultaneous substitution with Al and Cu is attempted in ZnO in order to tune its optical properties. The morphological, structural, optical and photoluminescence properties were thoroughly investigated using different characterization tools. The phase purity of the Al and Cu co-doped ZnO nanoparticles is confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Fullprof, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The nanoparticles possess an agglomerated spherical-shape-like morphology, as evident from SEM images. The co-doped ZnO nanoparticles reveal a band gap of ∼3.2 eV. Photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy show the presence of various defect states in ZnO which can tune its optical properties as per the desired application.