Abstract
In this paper, the low temperature microwave assisted hydrothermal technique has been used to elaborate ZnO nanosheets by so-called soft chemistry and zinc acetate, as a source. In particular, we focused on the influence of elaboration parameters such as concentration, temperature, and time on the structural, morphological and optical properties ZnO nanosheets. X-ray analysis confirmed that the material has crystallized in hexagonal Wurtzite structure and the diffraction peaks in the case of higher precursor concentration are more intense and narrower, implying that the ZnO is better crystallized. The morphological characterization of the elaborated samples is performed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It is revealed that the obtained powders are nano-platelets with irregular shapes and sizes and randomly arranged. The measured average thicknesses and diameter range are 38 nm and [50 nm - 600 nm], respectively. Moreover, the photoluminescence technique is used to investigate the optical behavior of the developed samples. Different photoluminescence bands are observed. The appearance of two peaks is recorded. The first corresponds to the upper limit of UV luminescence (394-400 nm) with a gap of (3.1 eV- 3.18 eV) around 394 nm. On the other hand, the second peak less intense and less broad is situated approximately in the middle of the visible blue band at 466 nm (blue: 466 – 500 nm) and a gap of (2.4 eV-2.6 eV) in the visible range (blue). The interesting properties of the developed structure enable it to be a potential alternative material for low-cost and high performance optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications.
Keywords
Microwave heating, Hydrothermal route, ZnO powders, Nanosheets, Photoluminescence.
Citation
N. BOUKHANOUFA, S. RAHMOUNI, Structural, optical and morphological properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets elaborated by hydrothermal method associated with microwave heating, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 14, 9-10, September-October 2020, pp.433-437 (2020).
Submitted at: Sept. 28, 2019
Accepted at: Oct. 21, 2020