Theoretical and experimental approaches to measuring mechanical properties of Zn1−xCoxO binary tetrahedral bulk semiconductors

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We prepared a $${{\text{Zn}}_{1 - {\text{x}}}}{{\text{Co}}_{\text{x}}}{\text{O}}$$ system as polycrystalline nanoparticles with various compositions $$(x=0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, {\text{and}} \; 0.10)$$ using sol–gel techniques and use zinc acetate dihydrate and cobalt acetate tetrahydrate as precursors. Nanoparticles were pressed under a pressure of 4 tons for 5 min into 2 mm thick disk shaped compacts 10 mm in diameter, which were then annealed at 500 °C for 30 min under a 5B Ar atmoshpere. We carried out X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Vickers microhardness analyses of Co doped $${\text{Zno}}$$ -based nano bulk materials in detail, focusing especially on theoretical and experimental mechanical analyses. We found that calculated values were higher than the Vickers microhardness experimental results. Doping ZnO with Co did not lead to significant changes in the a and c axes. The calculated hardness values are larger than those from the experiments. Acoording to the SEM and EDS images grain size decreases as Co doping increases and the amount of Zn decreases with Co doping, respectively.