Wide band gap of Strontium doped Hafnium oxide nanoparticles for opto-electronic device applications – Synthesis and characterization

Strontium doped HfO2 nanoparticles (Sr-HfO2 NPs) were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method. FTIR and EDAX spectroscopy analysis shows stoichiometries compositions of HfO2 NPs are pure. X-Ray diffraction pattern analysis revealed that the calcined NPs shown the polycrystalline nature of the orthorhombic phase structure. TEM analysis revealed that the morphology of the calcined NPs was spherical in shape with less agglomeration and the crystallite size was about 30nm. UV–visible spectroscopy analysis revealed that the optical band gap energy of calcined NPs was 5.4eV. [Display omitted] •XRD analysis revealed polycrystalline structure with orthorhombic phase. The particle size was about 30nm.•The high absorbance observed in the UV region indicates the feasibility of utilizing these NPs as UV blocking layers in contact lens and UV absorbing layer in optoelectronic devices.•The optical energy band gap (Eg) was found to be 5.4eV.•The observed optical properties indicated the feasibility of utilizing it as blocking layer in solar cell applications to enhance the efficiency.