LOW TEMPERATURE COMBUSTION SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF UNDOPED AND SAMARIUM DOPED ZINC OXIDE NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and samarium (Sm) doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesised by solution combustion approach using citric acid as fuel. The formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure of pure and Sm doped ZnO powder was prepared and confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The structure formation, morphological and elemental analysis of pure and Sm doped ZnO powder were analysed using XRD, Raman spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and xray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). The results indicated that the trivalent Sm ions were successfully doped in to the lattice of ZnO matrix. The XRD images showed that both ZnO and Sm doped ZnO NPs are highly crystalline, having hexagonal wurtzite structure.