Abstract
Stable crystalline aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanopowders were synthesized using hydrothermal treatment processing. Three different aluminum precursors have been used. The Al-precursors were found to affect the morphology of the obtained nanopowders. AZO nanoparticles based on zinc acetate and aluminum nitrate have been prepared with different Al/Zn molar ratios. XRD investigations revealed that all the obtained powders have single phase zincite structure with purity of about 99%. The effect of aluminum doping ratio in AZO nanoparticles (based on Al-nitrate precursor) on structure, phase composition, and particle size has been investigated. The incorporation of Al in ZnO was confirmed by UV-Vis spectroscopy revealing a blue shift due to Burstein-Moss effect.
Highlights
IntroductionZinc oxide ZnO is a wide band gap (3.4 eV) semiconductor which has broad range of potential uses in optical and electrical applications such as in solar energy conversion, thin film transistors, photocatalysis, nonlinear optics, gas sensors, pigments, cosmetic, LED, anti-UV and low-emission coatings, and photoluminescent and sensor materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
These results indicate that different anions have clear influence on particle shape, and on the particle size
The crystallization of aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles occurs at low temperature and it is stable where no phase change is expected to occur at high temperatures
Summary
Zinc oxide ZnO is a wide band gap (3.4 eV) semiconductor which has broad range of potential uses in optical and electrical applications such as in solar energy conversion, thin film transistors, photocatalysis, nonlinear optics, gas sensors, pigments, cosmetic, LED, anti-UV and low-emission coatings, and photoluminescent and sensor materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The substitution of Zn2+ ions with group III ions (B3+, Al3+, Ga3+, and In3+) [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] generates extra electrons and improves ZnO optical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties. The substitution of Zn2+ ions with Al3+ in ZnO lattice improves the electrical conductivity through the increase of charge carriers where it is reported that the electron concentration increases from 1016 to 1021/cm−3 [17, 18]. Well crystalline doped ZnO particles, pure in phase, are very important for obtaining good electrical conducting properties. The choice of aluminum precursor used for substitution of Al3+ ions in ZnO host lattice is very important. The obtained nanopowders were characterized using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy
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