Structural and optical properties of unannealed and annealed ZnO nanoparticles prepared by a chemical precipitation technique

• Published in: Physica. E, Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 1675 - 1682
• Main Authors: Goswami, Navendu, Sharma, Dhirendra Kumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.03.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Fluorescence; Materials science; Methods of nanofabrication; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Physics; Structural properties; Zinc oxide nanoparticles; Fluorescence; Structural properties; Zinc oxide nanoparticles; Fluorescence spectroscopy; Atomic force microscopy; Electronic properties; Annealing; Fourier transform spectroscopy; Chemical precipitation; Chemical method; XRD; Nanoparticles; Transmission electron microscopy; Optical properties; Zinc oxide; Nanostructured materials; Nanomaterial synthesis; Crystal structure
• ISSN: 1386-9477; 1873-1759
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physe.2010.01.023

In this paper we report the structural, electronic and optical properties of ZnO nanocrystals synthesized by a facile chemical method. ZnO nanoparticles prepared by this method were investigated employing X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Atomic force microscope (AFM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV–Visible and Fluorescence (FL) spectroscopy. In order to study the effect of annealing on ZnO nanoparticles, we have analyzed pre- and post-annealed nanoparticles. It was observed that annealing treatment removes the impurities and consequently enhances the purity of ZnO nanoparticles without influencing their wurtzite phase. The absorption and excitation transitions occurring in annealed ZnO nanoparticles are similar to those in unannealed ZnO; however, some fluorescence emissions are altered. On the one hand, annealing assists in obtaining the pure ZnO nanoparticles without affecting their size and crystal structure; on the other hand channels of radiative combination are affected by the annealing process.