Influence of Ti doping on ZnO nanocomposites: Synthesis and structural characterization

WOS: 000374075100061In this study, pure phase titanium (Ti) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through facile and effective high energy ball-milling method using suitable precursors. Different Ti concentrations (Zn1-xTixO, x = 0, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1) were doped into ZnO. Detailed crystal and local atomic structures of synthesized samples were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and non-destructive synchrotron based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Obtained results revealed that substitution of Zn sites by Ti ions in Zn1-xTixO did not cause any alteration in the hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO with increasing doping concentrations. This study clearly suggests that ball-milling is a quite simple, cost effective, eco-friendly method to synthesize highly crystalline nanosized Ti doped ZnO composites for future nanotechnological applications, spintronic devices in particular. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Science; DOE Cooperative Research Program for the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) projectF. A. A. thanks to Professor Herman Winick and staff at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) for their support, where XAS experiments were carried out. SSRL is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Science. F. A. A. also acknowledges financial support by the DOE Cooperative Research Program for the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) project