Study of Structural and Optical Properties of Zinc-doped Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have been extensively investigated for potential applications in various fields due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In this investigation, Zn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method and characterized for their structural and optical properties using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Photoluminescence (PL). The precursors titanium tetraisopropoxide and zinc chloride dopant were used as the source of titanium and zinc. Hydrochloric acid was used to maintain the pH of the solution during the process. A red shift of the light absorption edge of Zn-doped TiO2 has been observed as compared to undoped TiO2 nanoparticles. The crystallite sizes of Zn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles ~8 nm were estimated by using Scherrer’s formula