The optical band gap investigation of PVP-capped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by sol-gel method

Abstract

ZnO Nanoparticles (NPs) has unique natures on their crystal structure, direct band gap and high exciton binding energy, consequently applied in optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, optical wave guide and light emitting diodes (LED). However the drawback was ZnO NPs tend to agglomerate and turn to nano-structured materials with poor properties. Effort to avoid agglomerations generally resolved by surface modification of ZnO NPs to obtain well-dispersed suspension. However changes in the surface of ZnO NPs may change the electronic structure and density of states of ZnO NPs, in turn may change the optical band gap. Thus, the objective of current research is investigation of optical band gap of ZnO NPs due to surface modification by capping agent of poly-4-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) molecules. Uncapped and PVP-capped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method. The characteristics of surface modifications were investigated by UV-Vis and Photo Luminescence spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The results shows the surface modification has change the band gap of ZnO NPs obtained at second precipitated stage. In contrast, the change of the optical band gap did not observe due to the surface modification of ZnO NPs obtained at the first stage. It was concluded that PVP capping on ZnO NPs did not affect on the band gap when the capping was performed on first stage. It is emphasized that this statement also supported by TEM images observations.