The influence of Zn and Mg doping on the structural and optical properties of NiO nano-structures for optoelectronic applications

Herein, we present (Zn and Mg) dual doped nickel oxide (NiO) nanostructures leading to significant enhancement of structural and optical properties of NiO. The co-precipitation method was used to prepare pure, single, and dual dope NiO samples. Structural and optical properties of the prepared samples were investigated using the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV–Visible spectrophotometer, respectively. XRD measurements showed that the NiO crystallinity was improved by the dual doping process which makes them candidate materials for microelectronics applications. The optical measurements such as refractive index, absorption index, optical conductivity, etc., showed enhanced results for NiO by the single and dual dopants. The obtained values of the band gap energy increased with doped NiO samples up to the highest value (~3.24 eV) at a dual doped sample of x = 0.5, therefore, Zn and Mg dopants enhanced the electrochromic performance of the doped NiO samples The DC electrical conductivity values were measured for all prepared samples at room temperature.