Impact of Ag doping on structural, optical, morphological, optical and photoluminescent properties of ZnO nanoparticles

An investigation of room-temperature sol–gel synthesis Ag doped ZnO nano-particles are reported here. The effect of silver concentration (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 at. wt.%) on the morphology, structural and optical properties of the Ag doped ZnO nanoparticles are studied. XRD analysis displays the hexagonal wurtzite structure. The crystallite size was found to decrease in the range 36.95–28.11 nm with the increase in Ag dopant percentage. With enhancement in the Ag contents, the crystallite size decreases and specific surface area increases which suggest their use in biological science and photocatalysis. Surface morphology shows that grains are irregular, cuboid, linear and spherical shaped nanoparticles with slightly varying sizes. The Ag doped ZnO nanoparticles show interesting properties, which are modified by the change of the grain size with increase in Ag dopant percentage. The band gap of the nanoparticles decreases with increase in Ag doping where 10 at. wt.% Ag dopant nanoparticles have a notably lower band gap than that of undoped ZnO (3.37 eV). Photoluminescence spectra has shown the violet shift emission bands. The optical properties predict the use of Ag doped ZnO nanoparticles in solar cells, optoelectronics, spintronics and wastewater treatment.