Nayan Das

Date of Graduation

Summer 2013

Degree

Master of Science in Materials Science

Department

Physics, Astronomy, and Materials Science

Committee Chair

Kartik Ghosh

Abstract

Having unique physical and chemical properties, nanostructures of ZnO become the center of interest for their potential uses in electronic as well as in biomedical applications. In this project, effects of size and doping on structural and physical properties of ZnO nanorods are studied to address this question. Both magnetic cobalt and nonmagnetic magnesium elements are used to study doping effect on ZnO nanorods. All nanorods were synthesized by hydrothermal process. Structural properties of pure and doped ZnO nanorods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy. Optical properties have been investigated using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The size of the synthesized nano-rods can be varied from 150 nm to 5 μm. XRD data show that there is no apparent change in lattice parameters with variation in sizes and shapes. However, these affect the optical vibrational modes of the crystal structure as well as the optical properties. PL data show that in general band gap increases and intensity of defect peak in the visible region increases with decreasing nanorod size. XRD and Raman spectroscopy data indicate that there is a small variation in lattice parameter with doping. PL data show that the band gap can be changed with both Co and Mg doping. The intensity of defect peak in the visible region decreases with Mg doping and increases with Co-doping. All the results indicate that Co and Mg doping on ZnO nanorods may provide suitable nanomaterials for future electronic and biomedical applications.

Keywords

ZnO, physical properties, optical properties, hydrothermal process, Co doped ZnO, Mg doped ZnO

Subject Categories

Materials Science and Engineering

Copyright

© Nayan Das

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