Preparation and Characterisation of Al doped ZnO Nanopowders

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminium (Al) doped zinc oxide nanopowders were prepared using sol-gel method. The structural properties were studied using X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). It is observed that doping of aluminium significantly reduces the crystallite size and also affects the intensity ratio of crystal planes. The powders with wurtzite structured hexagonal phase are also characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). From the optical transmittance studies, it is observed that there is increase in the band gap for Al doped ZnO samples. The Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum reveals the presence of broad green emission peak at 509 nm for the doped sample.