Elsevier, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, (522), p. 114-117
DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2012.01.116
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The crystallographic and optical properties of Mn-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by a sol-gel process have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence microanalysis. X-ray diffraction reveals that the nanoparticles have hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, with the lattice constants along the a-and c-axes increasing with increasing Mn concentration from 0 to 2.4 at%. For all Mn concentrations in this range, the nanoparticles are essentially free of native point defects so that they exhibit only band-edge luminescence. The optical bandgap and band-edge emission energies for Mn-doped ZnO were found to increase in proportion to the lattice constants. The direct correlation between the bandgap and crystal structure suggests that the band-edge optical properties of Mn-doped ZnO is predominantly influenced by the amount of Mn atoms substituting Zn on the lattice sites. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.