Investigation of microstructure, electrical and photoluminescence behaviour of Ni-doped Zn 0.96 Mn 0.04 O nanoparticles: Effect of Ni concentration

Abstract ZnO, Zn0.96Mn0.04O and Ni-doped Zn0.96Mn0.04O nanoparticles with different Ni concentrations (0%, 2% and 4%) have been synthesized successfully by sol–gel method. The effects of Ni doping on the structural and optical properties were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The XRD pattern confirmed the existence of single phase wurtzite-like hexagonal structure throughout the Ni concentrations without any additional phases. The substitution of Ni created the lattice distortion due to the disparity of ionic radius between Zn and Ni which reduced the crystallite size. The microscopic images showed that the size of ZnO nanoparticles reduced by Ni-doping while the shape remains almost spherical/hexagonal type. The electrical conductivity found to be maximum at Ni = 2% due to the availability of more charge carriers generated by Ni. The decrease of electrical conductivity at higher doping (Ni = 4%) is due to the fact that the generation of more defects. The enhanced band gap from 3.73 eV (Ni = 0%) to 3.79 eV (Ni = 4%) by the addition of Ni explained by Burstein-Moss effect. The change in infra-red (IR) intensity and full width at half maximum (FWHM) corresponding to the frequency around defect states were caused by the difference in the bond lengths that occurs when Ni ion replaces Zn ion. The observed blue band emission from 474 nm to 481 nm is due to a radiative transition of an electron from the deep donar level of Zni to an acceptor level of neutral VZn and the origin of green band may be due to oxygen vacancies and intrinsic defects. The tuning of the band gap and the visible emission bands by Ni doping concluded that Ni-doped Zn0.96Mn0.04O is suitable for various nano-photo-electronics applications.