Morphological and Optical Properties of Cu1 –xZnxO Nanoparticles

Abstract

This paper reports on morphological and optical properties of Cu_1 – xZn_xO nanoparticles (x = 1 and 3 at %) synthesized by the microwave method. Undoped and Zn doped CuO nanoparticles are characterized by SEM, EDAX, UV–vis FTIR and XRD analysis. Capsule shape and Circle shape nanoparticles are observed in SEM analysis. The at % of Cu, Zn and O in nanoparticles is estimated by EDAX analysis. The presences of various chemical functional groups are confirmed by FTIR analysis. The peaks present in the range 410–430 cm^–1 are assigned to the Cu–O. The bandgap value is calculated as 3.94, 3.84 and 3.82 eV for undoped and Zn doped (1 and 3 at %) CuO nanoparticles. The average crystallite size of undoped CuO nanoparticles is calculated as 17.14 nm using the Scherrer formula by XRD analysis.