Abstract
In the present study, undoped ZnO and co-doped Zn(0.99 − x)Fe0.01AlxO (x = 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05) were effectively prepared by the co-precipitation process. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties were investigated in order to explore the effect of concentration of co-doped Al on the physical properties of ZnO nanopowders. Besides, the structural analysis revealed the formation of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of all the powdered compositions. The crystallite size was found to decline with Fe and Al incorporation into ZnO crystal lattice. An additional peak attributed to the secondary phase Al was also noted for the Zn0.94Fe0.01Al0.05O sample. Moreover, the morphological study suggested the change in the morphology of ZnO nanoparticles at higher Al co-do** concentrations and proved the formation of the secondary phase Al for the Zn0.94Fe0.01Al0.05O composition. Concerning optical properties, the optical band gap energy was found to decline with increasing Al co-do** concentration. An increasing trend of the Urbach energy was noted due to Fe/Al co-do**. Furthermore, the electrical and dielectric characterizations were performed in the same range of frequency and temperature. The obtained results showed that the dielectric constant was gradually increased with the rise of Al concentration. The electrical conductivity of ZnO nanopowder samples was also enhanced under the incorporation of Al into the ZnO matrix. This contribution enhances the understanding of optical and electrical properties of Fe/Al co-doped ZnO nanopowders for optoelectronic applications.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of DGRST. They would like to thank Prof. Ali Khalfallah (University of Coimbra) and Prof. Maria Teresa Vieira (University of Coimbra) for their helpful contribution in this work.
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HS: methodology, investigation, writing–original draft, writing–review and editing. ZB: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, supervision, writing–original draft, writing–review and editing. PS: methodology. YH: methodology. DM: methodology. KK: methodology. NA: resources. HK: resources.
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Saadi, H., Benzarti, Z., Sanguino, P. et al. Improving the optical, electrical and dielectric characteristics of ZnO nanoparticles through (Fe + Al) addition for optoelectronic applications. Appl. Phys. A 128, 691 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-05847-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-05847-9