Facile synthesis and characterization of undoped, Mn doped and Nd co-doped CuO nanoparticles for optoelectronic and magnetic applications

Copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method, doped with Manganese (Mn) and co-doped with Neodymium (Nd) elements. The properties of synthesized nanoparticles were examined by XRD, SEM/EDX, FT-IR, DRS, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Hall effect and vibrating sample magnetometry. XRD indicate the presence of a monoclinic structure of CuO for all samples with no other impurity phases. The images from SEM have revealed that grains are clusters structure. Using Tauc's relation, optical band gap is obtained and found to be reduced from 1.77 to 1.71 eV due to doping and co-doping. This decrease is may be attributed to the fact that the impurity band merges with conduction band of CuO. Hall measurements reveal that the conductivity of the sample increases with temperature. The magnetic studies show that the prepared nanostructures are found to have a maximum value of saturation magnetization at 3 wt% for Mn, Nd co-doped CuO, i.e. ∼0.07 emu/g.