Preparation and Characterization of Mn and Co substituted nanoparticle ZnO

With a view to investigate the influence of nano size on various physical properties of transition metal substituted ZnO, a series of materials were prepared by different chemical routes viz; Citrate gel, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA ) precursor and Chemical solution decomposition (CSD) methods. In the citrate gel method, the starting materials were nitrates and ethylene glycol acts as a gelating reagent. In the PVA method also the starting materials were nitrates and equal weight of PVA is added to the mixture. This was dissolved in distilled water and stirred thoroughly and burnt to get nano powders of the product. In the third method (CSD), the ingredients were taken stoichiometrically and mixed together. The precursor solution was obtained by adding triethaniolamine (TEA) and after evaporation; the resin was burnt to get nanopowders. Finally, all the materials prepared under different routes were characterized structurally by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The XRD data were analyzed by Rietveld refinement technique and are found to crystallize into wurtzite crystal structure. The average crystallite size values estimated using Scherrer formula and are found to be in the range of 1540 nm. It has been concluded that PVA precursor method is more appropriate to prepare nano size particles of Oxide diluted magnetic semiconductor (ODMS) materials.