Chemically Modified Cellulose Capped Zinc Oxide Nanocomposite: Spectral and Optical Properties

In this study, a new chemically modified cellulose polymer-capped ZnO nanopowder prepared by hydrothermal method using chemically modified cellulose polymer as capping agent was successfully reported. The structural characteristics of CMC-capped ZnO nanopowder was reported by FTIR, XRD, SEM and EDX studies. XRD results revealed crystallographic properties like crystal composition, phase purity and crystallite size of the prepared CMC-capped ZnO nanopowder and average size calculated by Debye Scherrer formula as 14.66 nm. EDX studies revealed that the presence of elemental compositions of capping agent in the nanopowder samples. The optical characterization of the CMC-capped ZnO nanopowder was studied using UV absorption (λ max = 303 nm) and PL spectroscopy (λ ex = 295 nm). The average crystal diameter and grain size were calculated by effective mass approximation formula and compared with XRD findings that agreed well and verified CMC capped ZnO with particle size of 193 nm. Thus, the promising optical characteristics shown by the synthesized CMC capped ZnO nanopowders exposes its potential usage in bio-medical fields.