Abstract:
The main objective of this study was to investigate the lowering of the band gap energy and optical properties of ZnO doped with alkaline earth metals (Ca 2+ , Sr 2+ , Mg 2+ ). ZnO nanoparticle was synthesize by adding Zinc acetate to aqueous NaOH solution and subjected to ultrasonic irradiation for 2 hr after that a white precipitate was obtained which was filtered and washed with ethanol and de-ionized water and dried in an oven at 60 0 C for 3 hr. The dried white powder was then calcined at 400 o C for 2 hr and subjected to UV-Vis spectrophotometer used to characterize the synthesized ZnO nanoparticle and the band gap energy of ZnO undoped and doped with alkaline earth metals (Ca 2+ ,Sr 2+ ,Mg 2+ ) was determined. From all dopants 0.006 M Mg 2+ doped ZnO nanoparticles was found to be narrowing band gap more.
