Characterization and antibacterial activity of Ti doped ZnO nanorods prepared by hydrazine assisted wet chemical route

In this study, a simple hydrazine assisted wet chemical method was used to prepare pure and Ti doped ZnO nanorods. The structural properties of pure and Ti doped ZnO nanorods were investigated by XRD analysis. Williamson-Hall (W-H) method was used to determine the crystallite size, strain and dislocation density of the samples. TEM analysis revealed rod like morphology for Ti doped ZnO nanoparticles. The presence of elements such as Zn, Ti and O of the doped sample was confirmed by EDS. XPS spectrum suggests that Ti4+ ions well substitute Zn2+ ions in doped nanocrystal. The Raman study further established the formation of ZnO wurtzite structure in both pure and Ti doped ZnO nanorods. The band gap of pure and Ti doped ZnO nanorods were estimated by the Tauc relation as 3.03 eV and 2.91 eV respectively. From the PL spectra, it is observed that the intensity of the polychromatic defect emissions of Ti doped ZnO nanorods is higher than pure ZnO, with some additional defect emissions. The antibacterial activity of Ti doped ZnO nanorods slightly decreased against gram positive and gram-negative bacteria when compared to pure ZnO.