Linear and nonlinear optical studies on successfully mixed vanadium oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized by sol–gel technique

Abstract

In this study, V2O5, 5ZnO/10V2O5, and ZnO, 10ZnO/10V2O5 nanocomposites were synthesized by the sol–gel method. The sol–gel technique is an important process for the fabrication of advanced oxide materials with desirable catalytic, optical, and structural properties. The varieties and flexibilities of sol–gel techniques help in preparing materials with extremely specific properties. For the presented samples, three types of phases were assessed. The average crystalline size of V2O5, 5ZnO/10V2O5 and ZnO, 10ZnO/10V2O5 nanocomposites were found to be 25, 26, 14.5, and 15.5 nm, respectively. SEM images showed three different shapes of semi-tube, semi-spherical, and semi-flower. The pure samples of V2O5 and ZnO showed semi-tube shapes. 5ZnO/10V2O5 shows a spherical shape with average dimeter of 0.6 µm. Strong dependence of the direct optical band gap was observed on different compositions that varied within the range of (2.33–2.73 eV). Conversely, the indirect values varied within the range of 2.119–2.35 eV. On the other hand, 10ZnO/10V2O5 has semi flower shape with different layers. Optical parameters, such as optical band gap, extension coefficient, tails of localized states, and refractive index, were gauged for these nanocomposites. In addition, the mean refractive index of ZnO is lower than that of V2O5, with differences observed between 5ZnO/10V2O5 and 10ZnO/10V2O5 nanocomposites.

Keywords

• mixed oxides
• zno
• v2o5
• optical band gap
• nonlinear optical studies