TITLE:
Synthesis of Cu Doped ZnO Nanoparticles: Crystallographic, Optical, FTIR, Morphological and Photocatalytic Study
AUTHORS:
P. K. Labhane, V. R. Huse, L. B. Patle, A. L. Chaudhari, G. H. Sonawane
KEYWORDS:
ZnO, Nanostructure, Bandgap, Photocatalytic Activity, Scavenger Study
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.3 No.7,
June
25,
2015
ABSTRACT: Nanoparticles of Zn1-xCuxO system with nominal compositions x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 were
prepared by co-precipitation method at room temperature. Structural, morphological, optical and
chemical species of grown crystals were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, Scanning
Electron Microscopy (SEM), UV-visible and FTIR spectroscopy, respectively. XRD analysis confirms
that all samples have hexagonal structure with no impurity phases which suggest that Cu ion
successfully incorporated into the regular ZnO crystal structure. The lattice parameters, volume of
unit cell, X-ray density, atomic packing fraction, c/a ratio, and grain size were calculated from XRD
pattern of pure and Cu doped ZnO samples and it was found that the grain size was in the range of
23 nm to 29 nm. The strain in pure and Cu doped ZnO samples was calculated by W-H analysis.
Optical properties of Zn1-xCuxO samples were studied by using UV-vis spectrophotometer. Optical
absorption spectra show that the band gap decreases with increasing Cu contents. The functional
group and chemical interactions of Zn1-xCuxO samples were also determined at various peaks using
FTIR data and observed that the functional groups corresponding to the Zn-O bands in the
samples. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were investigated by oxidation of methylene
blue under UV light illumination in batch reactor. The scavenger study was carried out to find out
main reactive species responsible for the degradation of dyes.