Raman investigation of ZnO and Zn1−Mn O nanocrystals synthesized by precipitation method

Abstract Zn 1− x Mn x O nanocrystal samples have been successfully synthesized using the chemical precipitation method in aqueous solution. Comparing with pure ZnO NC, the Raman data recorded from the manganese-doped nanocrystals shows an enhancement of the peaks located at 334 and 439 cm −1 . Besides, a new feature at 659 cm −1 emerges. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the as-precipitated nanocrystal samples illustrates that Mn-doping only makes the XRD peaks of the as-precipitated Mn-doped nanocrystals shift towards lower angle values, but the crystal structure of bulk ZnO is still preserved in the Mn-doped samples. Hence, the high quality Zn 1− x Mn x O ( x ⩾ 0) nanocrystals are formed through the replacement of zinc ions by manganese ions.