A study on the microstructural parameters of Zn (1-x)LaxZrxO nanopowders by X-ray line broadening analysis

In the present study, the pure and La-Zr co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel technique using zinc acetate dehydrate (Zn(Ac)(2)center dot 2H(2)O), lanthanum nitrate hexahydrate (La(NO3)(3)center dot 6H(2)O) and zirconium chloride (ZrCl4) as precursor. The structure and morphology of the prepared nanoparticle samples were studied using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurements. X-ray diffraction results indicated that all the samples have crystalline wurtzite phase. TEM showed that powder was polycrystalline in nature with random distribution of the pure and La-Zr doped ZnO nanoparticles. We demonstrate strain-size evaluations for pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles from the x-ray line profile analysis. The microstructural effects of crystalline materials in terms of crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening were investigated using Williamson-Hall (W-H) analysis and size-strain plot (SSP) method. The average crystallite size of Zn(1-x)LaxZrxO nanoparticles estimated from the W-H analysis and SSP method varied as the doping concentration increased. The incorporation of Zr4+ ion in the place of Zn2+ caused an increase in the size of nanocrystals as compared to undoped ZnO. The average particle sizes of co-doped ZnO nanoparticles estimated from the USDM model is in good agreement with the TEM results.