Enhanced optical properties of Cd–Mg-co-doped ZnO nanoparticles induced by low crystal structure distortion

Abstract The growth of CdxMg0.125-xZn0.875O nanoparticles with yellow-orange luminescence is achieved up to 2.5 at. % Cd via a modified sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that all the nanoparticles have the hexagonal wurtzite structure. It is found that Cd doping has a considerable effect on the crystal size, microstrain, band gap, and photoluminescence of the Mg0·125Zn0·875O structure, originating from a preferred crystallographic orientation along the (101) plane of the wurtzite structure. The shift and broadening of the E2(high) mode observed in the Raman spectra due to growth-induced strain corroborates the small distortion observed in the X-ray diffraction data. The …