The impact of excessive ethanol on synthesis and characterization of Zinc oxide nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •Green-wet chemical method of synthesis.•Reduction in the bandgap of ZnO nanostructure with the addition of reducing agent ethanol.•Enhanced optical and morphological properties.•This reduced bandgap and size may be favorable to various optoelectronic devices. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures are one of the most prominent areas of research in the present scenario. In this work, we have synthesized ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) using a simple sol–gel method with varying amounts of ethanol, changes in the amount of ethanol led to some promising changes in the quality of ZnO. With an increase in the amount of ethanol the size of ZnO, gets reduced since ethanol. UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) analysis confirmed the existence and behavior of ZnO nanostructure. Photoluminescence emission spectra suggested that the ethanol can suppress the zinc and oxygen vacancy hence improving the crystallinity of ZnO NPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) established the formation of ZnO NPs. This work explores the simple synthesis technique, bandgap tailoring, and impact of ethanol on ZnO nanostructures.