Optical and morphological characterization of ZnO nano-sized powder synthesized using single step sol-gel technique

ZnO is a wide band gap semiconductor and is very attractive because of its fundamental and technological importance. It is extensively used in research due to its properties viz. excellent chemical & thermal stability, large exciton binding energy, anti-corrosion and heat resistance. It is a promising material for optoelectronic devices in both UV and Visible regions. In the present investigation, ZnO nano powder was synthesized by single step Sol-gel technique using zinc acetate dihydrate as a precursor and ethanol as a medium. The synthesized ZnO nano powder was characterized using UV–Vis, FTIR, XRD, RAMAN, Photoluminescence (PL), Nano-particle size analyzer, SEM and EDX techniques. UV–Vis spectra gives intense peak at 372 nm wavelength showing the presence of absorption band due to ZnO nano powder. The chemical bonding among Zn and O can be clearly observed from FTIR spectrum. XRD spectra displays sharp peaks which indicates the crystalline nature of ZnO. It also shows homogeneity and size consistency of prepared nanoparticles. The crystallite size of ZnO nano powder were calculated using Scherrer's formula. The morphology and elemental analysis have been studied via SEM and EDX techniques. All the characterization results have been correlated with each other. [Display omitted] •The band gap energy for ZnO is approximately 3.3 eV (using UV–Visible) and 3.18 eV (using PL).•Raman peaks at 335 and 582 cm−1 confirms the structural defects present in ZnO nanopowders.•The average size of synthesized nanorods is 70.9 nm and of nanoflowers is 458.6 nm.•The average crystallite size of nano powder is 18.22 nm and bond length is 1.9798 Å (calculated from XRD data).•The atomic percentage of Zn and O in ZnO is 41.18% and 58.82% respectively.