The influence of temperature on the structure of Cd-doped ZnO nanopowders

A new and facile method has been used for preparation of CdZnO nanopowder. The prepared nanopowder was in the form of binary mixture of CdO and ZnO until annealing temperature 400 oC. When the annealing temperature increased above 400 oC the structure of the nanopowder was changed from binary mixture to a single hexagonal phase. Thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to follow the change in the microstructure and morphology of the prepared nanopowders at different temperatures. The effect of calcination temperature on the growth dynamics of CdZnO nanopowder showed that the dynamic growth index was 1.13 below 400 oC and 0.5 above it. This indicates that the rate of the grain growth was very fast especially at calcination temperature range 400-750 oC.