Surfactant (PEG 400) effects on crystallinity of ZnO nanoparticles

The surfactant effects on the size and crystallinity of ZnO powders prepared by Solid-state mechanochemical method. The present method is a simple and efficient method for the preparation of nanoparticles with high yield at low cost. The size and crystallinity of the nanoparticles were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDAX). Optical properties and band gap were studied by UV–Vis spectroscopy. XRD shown that the lattice constants have been changed to some extent. These results showed that the band gap energy decreases with increase in lattice constants, which can be attributed to the improvement in crystallinity of the samples. The band gap of the ZnO can be tuned in the range of 3.37–3.33 eV respectively, by the use of PEG 400 surfactant.