Synthesis and study of co-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with copper, magnesium, calcium, and cobalt ions by microemulsion method

In the present study, zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by simultaneous doping of Zn0.98Cu0.02O with Ca2+, Mg2+, and Co2+ ions using the microemulsion method. The phase, crystallization, and particle size of samples were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The formation of the desired phase was confirmed by, X-ray diffraction. Also, the infrared spectrum (Far-FTIR) was confirmed the existence of the wurtzite structure, according to the position of the bands in the range between 420 cm-1 to 250 cm-1. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) was used to investigate the magnetic properties, which the presence of magnetic properties was indicated in the produced samples. Morphological and particle size was obtained by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The particle size of spherical zinc oxide samples was found in the nano range (15 ±3 nm). Differential reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analysis was used to investigate the electrical properties and measure the bandgap energy. The bandgap of the Cu-ZnO sample was 2.7 eV. The bandgap energy was reduced by the substitution of dopants in zinc oxide samples. Co-doped Ca-Cu-ZnO has the lowest bandgap energy among samples, and, the bandgap of the Co-Cu-ZnO sample was around 2.5 eV, so that, this sample can be optimum concerning higher magnetic properties and haven’t any impurity in the XRD pattern.