Wet chemical synthesis of chitosan capped ZnO:Na nanoparticles for luminescence applications

The structural and optical properties of nanomaterials exhibit severe changes when capped with organic polymers. In this work we focus on the effect of chitosan capping on ZnO:Na nanoparticles synthesized by wet chemical method. The main characteristics analyzed are x-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and photoluminescence (PL). Hexagonal crystal formation of nanoparticles was confirmed from the XRD and the lattice strain was estimated from the Williamson Hall (WH) plot. Various bonds present in the synthesized sample were analyzed using FTIR. Capping results in the reduction in grain size thereby enhancement in the PL intensity. The yellow emission is in well agreement with the Commission International d'Eclairage (CIE) diagram.