Dependence of the electrical properties of Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles decorated by Ag atoms

Silver decorated copper doped zinc oxide nanoparticles (Ag@Cu-ZnO) were successfully prepared via sol gel method. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed ZnO wurtzite crystalline structure with the existence of minor peaks attributed to Cu and Ag. The presence of Cu and Ag in addition to ZnO lattice was supplementary verified by EDS data while the shift in the FTIR band confirmed the Cu incorporation within the ZnO host lattice. Both SEM and XRD revealed an increase in particle size with Ag loading. At different frequencies, electrical measurements demonstrated a decrement in the dielectric constant, dielectric loss and AC conductivity with the increment of Ag content. Meanwhile, the Nyquist plots of the impedance measurement showed a single semicircle arc indicating the predominance of grain boundary resistance. This study elucidated the great influence of Ag on Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles' structural, dielectric constant and electrical conductivity which make it a promising candidate for catalytic, photocatalytic and adsorption applications.