Modification in structural, optical, morphological, and electrical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) by metal (Ni, Co) dopants for electronic device applications

In the present work, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the chemical co-precipitation method using Zinc Chloride as the initial chemical, while Nickel and Cobalt chloride as dopants. Phase identification of metal (Ni, Co) doped Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (NPs) was observed using x-ray diffraction (XRD). The small lattice distortion or phase changes appeared due to shifting of diffraction angles peaks towards larger angle in ZnO are corresponded to metal (Ni, Co) dopant. The average crystallite size appears to decrement in NP size from 7.67 nm to 6.52 nm and 5.35 nm to 5.17 nm with increasing 5 % to 80 % of metal (Ni, Co) dopant respectively. The optical characteristics, including the absorption spectra of the prepared sample were observed through UV-Vis spectroscopy, Meanwhile SEM confirmed the observation of composition change in specimen with metal (Ni, Co) dopant concentration. The bandgap value was also found decrement 5.23 eV to 5.05 eV with increment of metal (Ni, Co) dopant concentration. The functional groups were measured by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR peaks found the metal (Ni, Co) doped ZnO with the vibration mode of (Zn2+ -O2-) ions due to the increment of dopant concentrations. Furthermore, electrical results show the ohmic behavior of prepared samples. These findings indicate the possibility of tuning optical, structural and electrical properties of metal (Ni, Co) doped ZnO with various dopant concentrations of Nickel and will have great potential to find application in optoelectronic devices. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.

Automated summary

In this study, Zinc Oxide nanoparticles doped with Nickel and Cobalt were successfully synthesized via chemical co-precipitation method. Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and SEM were used to investigate the phase, optical properties, and composition changes, showing that increasing dopant concentration led to reduced crystallite size and bandgap value. The findings suggest the potential of tuning the properties of metal-doped ZnO for optoelectronic applications.