PVP AIDED SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZnO NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) semiconductor nanoparticle aided with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was synthesized using microwave assisted synthesis method. The structural, morphological, optical as well as the magnetic features of these nanoparticles were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) UV-VIS spectroscopy, Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) respectively. The study attempt to tailor and observe the effect of PVP concentration to the structural, optical and magnetic properties of ZnO nanoparticles calcined at 600 °C. The PVP serve as a capping agent to avoid agglomeration and reduces the particle size. The result obtained show the formation of pure crystalline ZnO nanoparticles with the size ranged from 29-32 nm for the un calcined sample, while for the calcined samples, the crystallite size remain 43 nm for almost all the samples. FESEM images show a hexagonal nanorod structure with very little agglomeration. The band gap of the samples varies from 3.26 - 3.31 and 3.25 3.26 eV for both uncalcined and calcined sample respectively which show a blue shift when compared with the band gap of bulk ZnO material (3.37eV). The PL study for the calcined samples reveal the occurrence of three emission peak at 411, 459 and 528 nm. FTIR measurement confirms that the entire organic compound used was completely removed during the calcination. The magnetic measurement shows a diamagnetic behavior for the uncalcined, uncapped and PVP capped samples calcined at 600 °C.