Influence of annealing on structural, morphological and optical properties of CdxZn1−x O nanopowder prepared by Co-precipitation method

Structural and optical properties of CdxZn1−x O (x = 0.0, 0.025, 0.050, 0.075, 0.1) nanopowder, synthesized by co-precipitation method have been investigated. The effect of annealing on the structural and morphological properties was studied using X-ray diffraction. The samples with x = 0.0 up to 0.075 exhibit wurtzite hexagonal phase, whereas, the sample with x = 0.1 shows two phases: wurtzite hexagonal ZnO and cubic CdO phase. This behavior is explained on the basis of solubility of CdO in ZnO. Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) results revealed the existence of Cd, Zn, and O elements in the nanopowder. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images confirm that the particle size of the prepared samples is in nano range. The optical band gap values obtained from the absorption spectra show that absorption depends on Cd composition. By doping of ZnO with CdO, a red shift in the absorption edge was observed.