Nanocrystals of undoped and silver doped zinc oxide (Zn1-x Ag x O (where x = 0.00 to 0.05) were
synthesized by coprecipitation method. Crystalline phases and optical absorption of prepared
samples were determined by X-ray diffraction and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The average
particles size was determined from X-ray line broadening. X-ray analyses reveals that Ag doped
ZnO crystallizes in hexagonal wurtzite structure. The incorporation of Ag+
in the place of Zn2+
provoked an increase in the size of nanocrystals as compared to undoped or pure ZnO. Optical
absorption measurement indicates red shift in the absorption band edge upon Ag doping. The
band gap values of as prepared undoped and doped with silver samples are found to decrease
with increase in temperature from 300 to 800 oC.