Study of the properties of undoped and fluorine doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

ZnO and ZnO:F nanoparucles were successfully prepared by precipitation in the presence of oxalic acid This procedure yields ZnO and ZnO:F nano-arrangements of different lengths consisting of chains of quasispherical nanoparticles of similar to 30 nm in size Only the wurtzite ZnO structure was detected for both undoped and fluorine doped ZnO nanoparticles. By absorption and photoluminescence measurements, a diminishing of singly ionized oxygen vacancies was detected when fluorine is present in the nanoparticles, while a blue shift of the exciton absorption was observed Additionally, by NIR reflectance measurements, the creation of free carriers by the fluorine doping of ZnO nanoparticles was observed (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved