Violet emission from Fe doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by precipitation method

In this article we have reported the synthesis of Fe doped zinc oxide nanoparticles by the chemical precipitation method. The structural, compositional and optical properties have been examined by powder X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, ultraviolet-visible and spectrophotometer. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the crystallites are in nanometer size and the sample contains polycrystals with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The average crystallite size has been found to increase from 25 nm to 36 nm with increase in Fe concentration. Scanning electron microscope result also confirmed the nanosize of the particles. Ultraviolet-visible spectrum of Fe doped zinc oxide shows a red shift with respect to undoped zinc oxide. The band gap of the samples was calculated from ultraviolet-visible spectrum and it is narrow from 3.30 eV to 3.23 eV with increasing Fe dopant upto 6%. The stretching bonds in Zn-Fe-O have been observed in FTIR spectra. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.