Effect of doping on structural, physical, morphological and optical properties of Zn1-xMnxO nano-particles

The effect of Mn doping on the structural physical, morphological and optical properties of Zn1-xMnxO nanoparticles prepared by novel co-precipitation route. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-vis spectroscopy. Broad peaks observed in XRD patterns indicates that all samples were nanocrystalline with hexagonal phase. Studied lattice parameters and volume of unit cell as a function of Mn content. The crystalline size, lattice strain, stress and strain energy density of Mn doped ZnO nanoparticles were determined from XRD patterns using W-H three models. The results obtained yields strain, stress and strain energy density increases with increasing Mn content and crystalline size decrease. Among the developed models, UEDM model was observed to be the best fit for co-precipitation route. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) result confirms that mean particle size of Zn1-xMnxO nanoparticles were about 20-27 nm. The optical study shows the decrease in optical energy band gap with Mn doping and confirm that Mn2+ ions substituting in ZnO materials. The u parameter and bond length of Mn doped ZnO nanoparticles were also investigated in this paper. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.