Investigation of crystal structure confinement and optical attributes of monoclinic–tetragonal Zirconia nanocrystals via chemical co-precipitation technique

• Published in: Bulletin of materials science 2022-09, Vol.45 (4), p.182, Article 182
• Main Author: Limbu, Sanjeeb
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical synthesis; Chemistry and Materials Science; Coprecipitation; Crystal structure; Crystallography; Doppler effect; Emission analysis; Engineering; Manganese; Materials Science; Monoclinic lattice; Nanocrystals; Nanoparticles; Optics; Photoluminescence; Red shift; Spectrum analysis; Tetragonal zirconia; Unit cell; Zirconium; Zirconium dioxide
• ISSN: 0973-7669; 0250-4707; 0973-7669
• DOI: 10.1007/s12034-022-02769-3

Mn-activated ZrO 2 nanocrystal was successfully synthesized using the chemical co-precipitation technique. Nanocrystals have been widely studied in terms of their structural and optical aspects. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the formation of monoclinic and tetragonal phases in pure and Mn-doped ZrO 2 nanocrystals. The unit cell structure of m-ZrO 2 and t-ZrO 2 has been modelled using the Rietveld refinement crystallographic data. A photoluminescence (PL) study revealed emission intensity peaks at 378 nm for pure ZrO 2 and 380 nm for Mn-doped ZrO 2 nanocrystal under 280 nm excitation. A significant red shift was observed in Mn-doped ZrO 2 nanocrystal due to the oxygen vacancy. The incorporation of Mn to ZrO 2 nanocrystals reduced the optical band gap from 5.07 to 2.02 eV. The morphological analysis revealed that the typical particle sizes were in the nanoscale range, with 38 nm for pure ZrO 2 and 70 nm for Mn-doped ZrO 2 nanocrystals.