Structural, morphological, and optoelectronic characteristics of Zn, Cd-co-doped CuO nanostructures

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 35; no. 18; p. 1233
• Main Authors: Kumar, P. Santhosh, Johnson, J., Biju, C. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorption; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Copper oxides; Crystal dislocations; Dislocation density; Grain size; Materials Science; Nanoparticles; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optoelectronic devices; Photovoltaic cells; Sol-gel processes; Ultraviolet radiation; Visible spectrum
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-024-13010-8

In this paper, pure CuO and Zn, Cd-co-doped nanoparticles were synthesized by a facile sol–gel route to explore their optoelectronic properties. XRD analysis reveals that both pure CuO and Zn, Cd-co-doped nanoparticles exhibit the monoclinic crystal system, while the dislocation density of Cd, Zn-co-doped CuO (8.10 × 10
–4
 nm
−2
) is greater than that of pure CuO (5.61 × 10
–4
 nm
−2
). TEM image of pure CuO indicates that each islands are composed of many tiny nanoparticles whose grain size is below 100 nm, while co-doped samples’ image reveals that many tiny grains are agglomerated to form irregular-shaped micro-architecture. The binding energies observed in the XPS spectrum of co-doped sample at 411.6 eV and 1044.63 eV can be attributed to Cd 3d
3/2
and Zn 2p
1/2
and affirm the effective substitution of co-dopants on the surface of CuO matrix. From the UV–Visible spectrum, an absorption edge at 257.84 nm (4.81 eV) is observed for the Zn, Cd-co-doped CuO nanoparticles and indicates that such wide gap materials might be highly desirable for the fabrication of transparent photovoltaics (TPVs), by exploiting the feature of transmitting visible light while absorbing ultraviolet light. Further these wide PL emissions in the entire UV–Visible regime may be exploited for fabricating for white LED optoelectronic devices. Thus, UV–Visible and PL studies convey that the outstanding characteristics observed in the current study are much favorable to design optoelectronic devices.