Enhanced optical properties of Cd–Mg-co-doped ZnO nanoparticles induced by low crystal structure distortion

The growth of CdxMg0.125-xZn0.875O nanoparticles with yellow-orange luminescence is achieved up to 2.5 at. % Cd via a modified sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that all the nanoparticles have the hexagonal wurtzite structure. It is found that Cd doping has a considerable effect on the crystal size, microstrain, band gap, and photoluminescence of the Mg0·125Zn0·875O structure, originating from a preferred crystallographic orientation along the (101) plane of the wurtzite structure. The shift and broadening of the E2(high) mode observed in the Raman spectra due to growth-induced strain corroborates the small distortion observed in the X-ray diffraction data. The optical band gap varies from 3.21 eV to 2.74 eV, being redshifted with increasing Cd concentration (from 0 at. % to 2.5 at. %). The photoluminescence obtained with an excitation wavelength of 325 nm has a broad yellow-orange emission peak at around 640 nm due to transitions related to oxygen vacancies and interstitial oxygen atoms. We located the yellow-orange emission in the chromaticity coordinate diagram in the 2683–2777 K colour temperature region, demonstrating that CdxMg0.125-xZnO0.875 nanoparticles have potential applications in white light-emitting diodes.