Synthesis and Characterization of Zn1-xCoxO Nanopigments Their Colorometric Investigations

Pure and cobalt doped zinc oxide nanopigments were synthesized by chemical sol-gel method. The structural properties of the prepared nanopigments were investigated be x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transition electron microscopy (TEM) and the optical properties by UV-vis spectroscopy. Both TEM micrographs and size strain plot (SSP) analysis of the XRD results showed that the crystalline size of the samples increased by the dopant increases. It was also indicated that the optical band gap of the prepared nanopigments were increased by the cobalt content increases that is related to the crystalline size increases in presence of cobalt. The colorimetric investigations showed that the color of the prepared white zinc oxide nanopigments were changed to green by adding cobalt to the matrix. As expected, the intensity of the green color was increased as the Co content increases.