Preparation of nitrogen doped zinc oxide nanoparticles and thin films by colloidal route and low temperature nitridation process

•A simple and original route to nitrogen-doped nanocrystalline thin films.•Synthesis of Zn-deficient N-doped ZnO nanoparticles from ZnO2.•Effective conversion of pyrite ZnO2 films into wurtzite ZnO thin films.•No degradation of the films during chemical conversion.

Nitrogen doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles have been synthesized using a colloidal route and low temperature nitridation process. Based on these results, 200 nm thick transparent ZnO thin films have been prepared by dip-coating on SiO2 substrate from a ZnO colloidal solution. Zinc peroxide (ZnO2) thin film was then obtained after the chemical conversion of a ZnO colloidal thin film by H2O2 solution. Finally, a nitrogen doped ZnO nanocrystalline thin film (ZnO:N) was obtained by ammonolysis at 250 °C. All the films have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV–Visible transmittance spectroscopy.

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