Structural, optical, dielectric and antibacterial studies of Mn doped Zn0.96Cu0.04O nanoparticles

• Zn0.96−xCu0.04MnxO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized.
• Mn2+ into Cu–Zn–O lattice was confirmed by EDX, FTIR and optical studies.
• Size and band gap tailoring by Mn-doping are useful for optoelectronic devices.
• Antibacterial activity of Cu-doped ZnO is enhanced by Mn doping.

Zn0.96−xCu0.04MnxO (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.04) nanoparticles were synthesized by sol–gel method. The X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that doping of Mn and Cu did not change the ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure. The Mn doped nanoparticles had smaller average crystallite size than un-doped Zn0.96Cu0.04O nanoparticles due to the distortion in the host ZnO lattice. This distortion prevented the subsequent growth and hence the size reduced by Mn doping. The changes in lattice parameters, average crystallite size, peak position and peak intensity confirmed the Mn substitution in Zn–Cu–O lattice. The Mn and Cu co-doping increased the charge carrier density in ZnO nanoparticles which led to increase the dielectric constant. The dielectric constant also varied by depend the size of the nanoparticles. The change in morphology by Mn-doping was studied by transmission electron microscope. The optical absorption and band gap were changed with respect to both compositional and size effects. The band gap was initially increased from 3.65 to 3.73 eV at 1% of Mn doping, while decreasing trend in band gap was noticed for further increase of Mn. The band gap was decreased from 3.73 to 3.48 eV when Mn concentration was increased from 2% to 4%. Presence of chemical bonding and purity of the nanoparticles were confirmed by FTIR spectra. The antibacterial study revealed that that the antibacterial activity of Zn0.96Cu0.04O is enhanced by Mn doping.

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