Photoluminescences properties of lanthanum-silver co-doped ZnO nano particles

Recently, transition metal (TM) and rare earth ion doped II–VI semiconductor nanoparticles have received much attention because such doping can modify and improve optical properties of II–VI semiconductor nanoparticles by large amount. In this study, undoped, La doped and La+Ag co-doped ZnO nano particles have been successfully synthesized by sol-gel method using the mixture of Zinc acetate dihydrate and ethanol solution. The powders were calcinated at 600 °C for 2 h. The effect of lanthanum and lanthanum-silver incorporation on the structure, morphology, optical and electrical conductivity were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Absorption (EDAX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV and Photo Luminescence (PL) Characterization. The average particle size of the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles is calculated using the Scherrer formula and is found to be of less than 20 nm. Luminescences properties were found to be enhanced for the La and La+Ag co-doped ZnO nanoparticles.