Effect of Dopant Concentration on Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Zn1-xNixO Nanocomposites

Abstract

Zn 1-x Ni x O (x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) nanocomposites were synthesized by co-precipitation method and further annealed at 400 o C. Characterization of nanocomposites was carried out by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra-red spectrometer (FTIR), UV-Visible spectroscopic, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques. The structural study confirms that nickel (II) ions replace Zn 2+ ions in the ZnO lattice without changing its Wurtzite structure and secondary phase (NiO) was observed with the increase in nickel concentration (x≥0.4). The presence of various functional groups and M-M and M-O chemical bonding were confirmed by FTIR. The optical properties of ZnO nanocrystallities with Ni-doping was investigated by UV-Vis absorption spectra which indicates red shift in the absorption band on Ni-doping. The morphology and structural information were obtained by the TEM images which shows hexagonal nanoparticles with average particle size of 15-50 nm. The change in magnetic behavior of ZnO nanoparticles with varying Ni 2+ doping concentration was investigated by VSM.