Stabilization of ZnMnO3 phase from sol-gel synthesized nitrate precursors

The stabilization and analysis of pure ZnMnO3 phase may help to understand the solubility limits of Mn in ZnO in wurtzite and cubic structures. In this report, synthesis and characterization of stable ZnMnO3 phase is discussed which is extracted from sol-gel synthesis of zinc and manganese nitrate precursors. The reflections at higher diffraction angles for this known cubic system with space group Fd3 m were calculated with the help of JADE 8.0 program. The reliability factor for ZnMnO3 calculated from Rietveld refinement was 2%. A narrow phase pure ZnMnO3 stabilization region was identified with the help of energy dispersive spectroscopy mapping. High resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of Mn-3p position of ZnMnO3 compared with ZnMn2O4 showed a higher binding energy shift similar to 0.85 eV indicating Mn4+ valence state in ZnMnO3.