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Correlations between structural, dielectric properties, and ab initio calculations in Co-doped ZnO nanoparticles: effect of Co concentration

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Abstract

This study offers important insights into the impact of incorporating cobalt on a range of characteristics of ZnO nanoparticles. Undoped ZnO and doped Zn1−xCoxO (x = 0.01 and 0.05) were effectively elaborated by the co-precipitation method. It establishes for the first time a full description of physical properties from experimental and theoretical points of view for Co-doped ZnO nanoparticles. The theoretical results studied by means of the Density Functional Theory are correlated with the experimental findings obtained using various techniques. Besides, the structural analysis revealed the formation of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of all the powdered samples with the appearance of the secondary phase ZnCo2O4 for the Zn0.95Co0.05O composition. An increasing trend of the average crystallite size from 26.49 to 53.93 nm was obtained under Co doping effect. Concerning the optical characterization, the band gap energy was found to decline with increasing Co doping concentration. Furthermore, the dielectric analysis was performed at different temperatures in the range frequency 40–107 Hz. An enhancement of the dielectric constant was observed with the addition of Co into ZnO host matrix. Overall, this novel contribution improves the performances of such structures that make them potential candidates for dielectric applications.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Zohra Benzarti gratefully acknowledges her support by the project n° 7225-ILLIANCE. Projeto apoiado pelo PRR-Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência e pelos Fundos Europeus Next Generation EU, no sequência do AVISO N.° 02/C05 -i01/2022, Componente 5 – Capitalização e Inovação Empresarial – Agendas Mobilizadores para a Inovação Empresarial. She also acknowledges her support by national funds through FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under the project UID/EMS/00285/2020. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of DGRST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Multifunctional Materials and Applications (LaMMA), Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, University of Sfax, Soukra Road km 3.5, B.P. 1171, 3000, Sfax, Tunisia

    Hajer Saadi & Zohra Benzarti

  2. LMOP(LR99ES17), Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Othmen Khaldi

  3. Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology and Energy (L2NE), University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Tarek Larbi

  4. CEMMPRE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua Luís Reis Santos, 3030-788, Coimbra, Portugal

    Zohra Benzarti

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  1. Hajer Saadi
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Contributions

HS: investigation, data curation, formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. OK: investigation, data curation, formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. TL: resources. ZB: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, validation, writing—review and editing, writing—original draft, supervision.

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Correspondence to Hajer Saadi.

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Saadi, H., Khaldi, O., Larbi, T. et al. Correlations between structural, dielectric properties, and ab initio calculations in Co-doped ZnO nanoparticles: effect of Co concentration. Appl. Phys. A 129, 848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-07126-7

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