Influence of Ti doping on ZnO nanocomposites: Synthesis and structural characterization

In this study, pure phase titanium (Ti) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through facile and effective high energy ball-milling method using suitable precursors. Different Ti concentrations (Zn1−xTixO, x = 0, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1) were doped into ZnO. Detailed crystal and local atomic structures of synthesized samples were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and non-destructive synchrotron based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Obtained results revealed that substitution of Zn sites by Ti ions in Zn1−xTixO did not cause any alteration in the hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO with increasing doping concentrations. This study clearly suggests that ball-milling is a quite simple, cost effective, eco-friendly method to synthesize highly crystalline nanosized Ti doped ZnO composites for future nanotechnological applications, spintronic devices in particular.