Investigation of the structural and linear/nonlinear optical characteristics of ZnO nanostructures alloyed with Co3O4 and NiO

ZnO/(1-x)Co3O4/xNiO/ (x = 0.0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1) samples were formed using co-precipitation method. Rietveld analysis for synchrotron x-ray diffraction was used to explore the different developed phases, their structural and microstructural in the system. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques were used to explore the existences of different ions and their exchange between different oxides. TEM microscopy revealed homogeneous spherical particle morphology with nano size for all samples. Diffuse reflectance measurements showed high absorbance of the samples with x = 0, 0.7 and 1.0 in visible region, may be used in coating eyeglasses to save skin around the eyes. The optical band gap energy value of the different samples was affected by the percentage of each oxide. The normal and anomalous dispersion behaviors of the refractive index depended on the composition of the sample and the measured wavelength range. The effect of alloying on the linear and nonlinear optical parameters was also explored.{GRAPHIACAL ABSTRACT}