Study the effect of dip in reaction temperature on thermal and electrical properties of ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract

The present study reports thermal and electrical properties of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles prepared using co-precipitation route. Sudden dip in reaction temperature observed during the synthesis process created defects in the crystal lattice of ZnO which leads to reduction in crystallite size from 33 nm to 28 nm with increase in reaction temperature. This is confirmed by the X-ray diffraction studies. Thermal analysis of the samples shows better thermal stability for smaller nanoparticles. Temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics of the ZnO samples show reduction in the conductivity and increase in dielectric constant with respect to rise in reaction temperature. Increase in dielectric constant with decrease in size of nanoparticles may be useful in the field of nanoelectronics like memory-storage devices, etc.