Preparation of ZnO doped with Co2+ of 1 mol.% nanomaterial by hydrothermal method – investigation of material’ structural and optical properties

Abstract

This experiment has studied and fabricated ZnO nanomaterials doped with ions Co²⁺ of 1 mol.  % (1  %Co²⁺-ZnO) by hydrothermal method. The material properties have been measured by physical methods such as: XRD, SEM, EDX, solid UV-vis absorption spectra. The results showed that the fabricated material has a nano-meter size and a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The 1  %Co²⁺-ZnO nanomaterials reduced the average crystal size and shift the absorption edge towards the visible light wavelength (l» 430-450 nm) compared to that of the ZnO nanomaterials. The average crystal size (according to Debye-scherrer) of the 1  % Co²⁺-ZnO sample is 26.28 nm and the crystal morphology is in the form of small spherical particles and uniform in size. The optical band gap energy of 1  %Co²⁺-ZnO nanomaterials is determined by extrapolating from the derivative plot according to the Kubelka–Munk equation and reaching a value of 3.19 eV.