Structural, Morphological, and Optical Properties of Pure and Copper doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles prepared by Co-precipitation Technique

Pure and Copper-doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using a microwave-assisted co-precipitation method. The copper doping concentration was varied to 5 wt% and 10 wt%, while the pH of the bath solution was kept constant. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The XRD analysis confirmed that both pure and Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite structure, with a shift in the XRD peak positions for the Cu-doped samples. SEM images revealed irregular morphology for pure ZnO and 10 wt% Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles, whereas 5 wt% Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles displayed a spherical morphology with an average particle size ranging between 50-100 nm. The optical band gap decreased for 5 wt% Cu doping concentration. PL spectroscopy indicated a reduction in the intensity of the near-band-edge emission with increasing Cu content