Study on the Rietveld Analysis for Synthesized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

In this work, ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by using ZnCl2 and NaOH as precursors using sol-gel chemical method. Synthesized ZnO was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Topas 4.2 software for Rietveld analysis. Formation of simonkolleite, Zn-5(OH)(8)Cl-2 center dot H2O instead of ZnO nano particles was revealed from XRD studies. Formation of hexagonal zincite structure of the ZnO samples was also confirmed by XRD studies. From Rietveld analysis, rise of crystallite size was observed with increasing NaOH concentrations. Morphology and particle size of synthesized ZnO nanoparticles showed from FESEM studies 20-50 nm sized nano particles were evident from FESEM micrographs, which was found consistent with the crystallite size measured by Rietveld analysis of XRD studies. This particle has been applied in different industrial sectors such as solar cells, UV detectors, photodiodes etc.