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Nanograins of Zinc oxide doped with silver and co-doped with rare earth elements were synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion method and annealed at1100 °C for 5 h. The average particle size and hexagonal wurtzite crystalline phases of the prepared samples were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The incorporation of silver ions and lanthanum ions into zinc lattice provoked the increase in size of the nano grains as compared to yttrium doped ZnAgO. The SEM micrographs analysis reveals the morphological changes in the doped and undoped ZnO. The pure ZnO morphology show prominent hexagonal structure whereas Ag doped and La/Y co doped ZnO envisioned the hexagonal nanoparticles bestowed as nanobricks in the ZnO lattice. The EDS spectra confirmed the presence of respective dopants in the ZnO host lattice. The optical studies have been characterized using Raman spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy studies and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The optical absorption show the decrease in energy bandgap for the rare earth doped ZnAgO. Raman scattering provide the various vibrational modes and indicate the presence of oxygen vacancy and the compressive strain in the prepared samples. Doping suppresses the UV emission and displays uniform intensity for a wide range of visible spectrum in the photoluminescence spectra. Besides the usual bactericidal and photo catalytic activity of silver doped Zinc oxide, this work signifies the optical PL quenching properties of rare earth doped ZnAgO.
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