Effect of precursor concentrations on structural, microstructural and optical properties of nanocrystalline ZnO powder synthesized by an ultrasonic atomization technique

In this paper, we report on the effect of concentration on nanocrystalline ZnO powder prepared by an ultrasonic atomization technique, which is a promising method because of its simplicity, inexpensiveness and safety. The morphology and size of ZnO nanocrystallites associated with nanopowder were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It revealed that the powder consisted of nanocrystallites with grain sizes between 8 and 15 nm. These values match the grain sizes (8--14 nm) calculated from x-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD and TEM studies of ZnO nanopowder showed that crystallite sizes were observed to increase with an increase in the concentration of solution. The d values calculated from electron diffraction patterns (TEM) of ZnO nanopowder were also in agreement with the d values calculated from XRD. The synthesized nanopowders exhibited a direct band gap (Eg) in the range of 3.36--3.42 eV.