Effect of Ni doping on structural and optical properties of Zn1−xNixO nanopowder synthesized via low cost sono-chemical method

• Pure and Ni doped ZnO nanopowders were synthesized by low cost sonochemical method.
• The optical properties of Zn1−xNixO nanopowders can be tuned by varying Ni content.
• The results reveal the solubility limit of Ni into ZnO matrix as below 8%.

Zn1−xNixO nanopowders with different Ni contents of x = 0.0, 0.04 and 0.08 were synthesized via cost effective sonochemical reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern reveals pure wurtzite phase of prepared nanostructures with no additional impurity peaks. The morphology and dimensions of nanoparticles were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). A sharp and strong peak for first order optical mode for wurtzite zinc oxide (ZnO) structure was observed at ∼438 cm−1 in Raman spectra. The calculated optical band gap (Eg) from UV–vis transmission data was found to decrease with increase in Ni content. The observed red shift in Eg with increasing Ni content in ZnO nanopowders were in agreement with band gap behaviours found in their photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The synthesised ZnO nanopowders with controlled band gap on Ni doping reveals their potential for use in various electronic and optical device applications. The results were discussed in detail.

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