X-ray Peak Profile Analysis of Nanostructured (ZnO)1-x(CuO)x Composite Semiconductor

Abstract In the present work, (ZnO) 1-x (CuO) x (x = 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%) composite semiconductor is synthesized by solid state reaction technique. Among the various dopants in ZnO, copper atom has similar radius and electronic shell to Zn atom, and dopant-related secondary phases is hard to form. So Cu should be an ideal dopant for modification of physical properties of ZnO. XRD results reveal that the sample is in crystalline form with a hexagonal wurtize phase. X-ray peak broadening was analyzed by the Scherrer’s equation, modified forms of Williamson-Hall (W–H) models viz. uniform deformation model, uniform stress deformation model and uniform deformation energy density model and size strain plot (SSP) method. The crystallite size (D) and lattice strain (∊) calculated from the W–H models and SSP methods was found to be comparable and in agreement with each other.