Hydrothermal Synthesis of Nickel Doped Zinc Oxide (NixZn1-xO where x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4): Experimental and DFT Study of Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Parameters

Abstract

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of nickel doped zinc oxide (NixZn1-xO) are studied by employing both experimental as well as theoretical approach. Experimentally the Hydrothermal method was employed for the synthesis and different experimental characterizations were used to investigate its different properties. Theoretically we worked under the frame wok of DFT using approximations like LDA. XRD confirms the hexagonal structure of sample with lattice constant of 3.23804Å belonging to space group P63mc. FTIR spectrum revealed the absorption peak at 536 cm-1 which is due to octahedral site in the nickel doped zinc oxide. SEM was used for the investigation of surface morphology and showed the agglomeration with non- uniform particle sizes. Theoretically DFT was used and all work done using Local Density Approximation. It was revealed that LDA describes the non- magnetic structure of zinc oxide, further it can be clarified by DOS in spin up and spin down so net magnetic moment is almost zero