Structural, optical & magnetic properties of (Fe, Al) co-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Pure and (Fe, Al) co-doped ZnO nanopowders are prepared via co-precipitation method constructively with PEG as capping agent at room temperature (RT). We kept the aluminum concentration as constant at 5 mol% by altering the iron concentration from one to three mol%. After the finishing point of synthesis, the powders are cautiously subjected to various characterizations for instance XRD, Raman, SEM through EDS, TEM, PL, UV-Vis-NIR and VSM, to analyze the properties of structural, morphological, optical and magnetic. XRD analysis reveals, all the nanopowder samples acquire hexagonal wurtzite structure by the nonexistence of secondary peaks involving to aluminum or iron. This reveals the well dissolving of aluminum and iron in to Zinc Oxide host lattice. The literal size of nanocrystallites is evaluated through TEM pictures, which are approximately corroborated by the XRD calculations. The nanostructures morphology is found through SEM illustrations, and the spectrum of EDS shows that no impurities are existence other than iron and aluminum. Optical properties are deliberated by the PL spectrum and UV-Vis-NIR spectrum; all the powder samples encompass defect associated peaks over the visible range. Magnetic properties are evaluated using VSM and all the co-doped samples contain the Ferromagnetic nature except pristine Zinc Oxide.