Influence of Copper Doping on Structural and Opto-Electronic Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

In this work, we elucidate the opto-electronic properties of pure zinc oxide and copper- doped zinc oxide nanoparticles prepared via the sol-gel method. Here, the main objective is to study the impact of copper doping on the crystalline structure of ZnO and to explore the composition dependent variations in opto-electronic properties. Synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, FTIR, UV–vis-nir, and Raman Spectroscopy. The structural and opto-electronic properties are further correlated using UV-vis-nir and high-resolution X- ray diffractometer data analysis. The size of synthesized nanoparticles are found in the range of 9.2 nm to 95.5 nm. Bandgaps are found both in the visible range (2.72 eV – 2.96 eV) as well as in the infrared regions (1.54 eV-1.58 eV). The transmittance of copper doped ZnO nanoparticles increases with increase in the doping concentrations.