Optical Band Gap Energies of Magnesium Oxide (MgO) Thin Film and Spherical Nanostructures

Magnesium oxide (MgO) is one of the metal oxides which has unique properties and has great potential applications in industry. In this work, MgO was synthesized by using a sol-gel and solid state methods. The precursor of MgO was annealed at the temperature of 600 degrees C for 1 hour and 800 degrees C for 24 hours for sol-gel method. For solid state method, magnesium acetate was annealed at the temperature of 800 degrees C for 24 hours. These samples were characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). TEM micrographs show the morphology of the samples of the sol-gel method are thin film nanostructures whereas sample of the solid state method is spherical shape. The band gap energies of the samples were measured using UV-Vis NIR Spectrophotometer. The band gap values of the samples were calculated and it was found that there is a difference of band gap energies between samples employing different synthesis route.