X – RAY DIFFRACTION (XRD) ANALYSIS OF ZINC OXIDE (ZnO)0.5 ZIRCONIA OXIDE (ZrO2)0.5 NANOPARTICLES FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATION

Abstract

This study investigates the structural and physical properties of (ZnO)_0.5 (ZrO₂)_0.5 nanoparticles that were synthesized using hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed to analyze the crystallinity of the samples. The samples were found to have a cubic crystalline structure with the average size of the crystallites being in the range of 9-12nm.The XRD patterns showed distinct preferential orientations of [001] and [111] in the nanoparticles. The average crystallite size of the nanoparticles was estimated from XRD measurements using the Scherer equation. The optical properties of the synthesized particles were determined using UV-vis DRS spectroscopy and were found to be the range of 380-600nm. The band gap of samples was estimated from the UV-vis absorption spectra and were found to be in the range of 3.32-3.56eV. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of (ZnO)_0.5 (ZrO₂)_0.5 nanomaterial for photovoltaic applications.