Experimental and modeling study of ZnO:Ni nanoparticles for near-infrared light emitting diodes

This work is devoted to the synthesis and study of the different properties of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) doped with the Ni element. We have used a simple co-precipitation technique for the synthesis of our samples and various structural, morphological and optical techniques for their analysis. Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirms the stoichiometry of the samples. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns reveal the hexagonal wurtzite phase of polycrystalline ZnO with a P63mc space group. Debye Scherrer and Williamson–Hall methods show that the average size of crystallites is around 40 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images confirm the XRD results. The optical spectrum of Zn(0.95)Ni(0.5)O shows the presence of near-band-edge (NBE) ultraviolet emission. The absorption defect bands appearing near the blue–green region and near infrared emission are attributed to the Ni(2+) intra-3d luminescence. The electronic structure of the Ni(2+) doped ZnO NPs confirms the T(d) site symmetry of Ni(2+) in the ZnO host crystal and leads to a perfect correlation between calculated and experimental energy levels.