Surfactant assisted sonochemical synthesis and characterization of gadolinium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Pure and Gd doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized by sonochemical method using different surfactants (PVP/CTAB). The nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), particle size analysis by DLS technique and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The effect of Gd doping and nature of surfactants on crystallite size, morphology and band gap of ZnO nanoparticles have been investigated. In addition to this, the effect of nature of surfactant on amount of dopant inserted in the ZnO lattice was also studied.