Özet:

In this study, gadolinium (Gd) element, one of the rare earth elements, was doped to the semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO) material at a rate of 10% per mole and synthesized at the nanoscale according to the sol-gel method. Morphological-chemical properties of the obtained gadolinium-doped zinc oxide (Gd/ZnO) nanoparticles were examined by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), structural properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical band properties by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and physical properties by particle size analysis. The study aimed to investigate the effect of Gd doping on ZnO and the use of Gd/ZnO nanoparticles in semiconductor technology. Structural study confirmed the wurtzite formation of Gd/ZnO nanoparticles by XRD study. Crystallite size, dislocation density, and microstrain values were calculated from XRD analysis. SEM/EDX analysis showed that Gd doping was successfully synthesized. Using the Tauc Plot method, the direct and indirect band gap values were calculated as 3.06 eV and 2.89 eV, respectively, and the effect of the Gd dopant on the band gap was examined. A red shift was observed with the doping of Gd3+ ions to ZnO. The average particle size distribution of the Gd/ZnO sample was obtained as 209.4 nm. The results obtained were compared with undoped ZnO in the literature. As a result, it was shown that the synthesized Gd/ZnO nanoparticles could be used as nanomaterials in the semiconductor industry, especially in solar cells

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