Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: The AZO nanoparticles are prepared by novel microwave assisted precipitation method with varying annealing temperature. Methods/Findings: The research work explores preparation and Structural, Morphological and Photoconductivity investigations of aluminum doped Zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles. Structural, Morphological and Optical Characteristics are examined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and UV Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis) respectively. The XRD analysis reveals that the crystallite size was 42.3 nm, 45.2 nm and 50.7 nm for the annealing temperatures of 450 °C, 600 °C and 750 °C. The shape of the nanoparticles observed in hexagonal wurzite format. The maximum level of peaks is observed in (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), (103), (200), (112), (201), (004) and (202) planes for various annealing temperatures. The SEM image indicates that the morphology has rod shape structure. The optical absorbance spectra of AZO nanoparticles were about 384.00 nm. The FTIR spectra shows the presence of aluminum content in the synthesized nanoparticles. Applications: The prepared AZO nanoparticles can be applied to prepare the gas sensors. 

Keywords: Nanorods, AZO, EDAX, SEM, FTIR, XRD