Structural, morphological and spectroscopic investigation of Mn doped Zn0.96Cu0.04O nanoparticles

Abstract

Zn0.96−xCu0.04MnxO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.04) nanoparticles were synthesized by sol–gel method. The X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that doping of Mn and Cu did not change the ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure. The Mn doped nanoparticles had smaller average crystalline size than un-doped Zn0.96Cu0.04O nanoparticles due to the distortion in the host ZnO lattice. This distortion prevented the subsequent growth and hence the size reduced by Mn doping. The changes in lattice parameters, average crystalline size, peak position and peak intensity confirmed the Mn substitution in Zn–Cu–O lattice. The dielectric constant also varied by depend the size of the nanoparticles. The change in morphology by Mn-dopi..