Temperature Dependence of Structural and Optical Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles Formed by Simple Precipitation Method

Abstract

ZnO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a simple precipitation method. The effect of growth temperature on the structural and optical properties of the resulting nanoparticles was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. TEM images and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern showed that the nanoparticles were polycrystalline ZnO having hexagonal wurtzite structure. The average size of the nanoparticles were 4.72nm to 7.61nm synthesized at room temperature to 80°C. This result is also consistent with the calculated sizes using effective-mass approximation model. From the optical absorption data, the band gap energy of nanoparticles blue-shifted due to the quantum confinement.