Tuning optical properties of zinc oxide and methyl ammonium lead iodide by ultrasound assisted method

In the last few decades, ultrasound assisted methods have emerged as environmentally friendly and cost-effective technologies for chemical synthesis. It provides higher yields under mild reaction conditions compared to traditional methods. Methyl ammonium lead iodide and zinc oxide have gained importance in academic as well as industrial research due to their unique optoelectronic properties. Ultrasonication induces changes in the material properties due to acoustic cavitation in the solvent based synthetic approach. As a proof of the concept, the present work includes the study of impact of ultrasound treatment on optical and morphological properties of the title compounds. All the products were characterized by using various analytical techniques such as DRUV, PL, FTIR, XRD and FE-SEM-EDS. XRD reveals the formation of pure phase of the products. Optical properties are analyzed using DRUV and PL spectroscopy and Tauc's plot. Surface modification is observed in both the products (ZnO and methyl ammonium lead iodide) synthesized by sono assisted method inducing changes in the optical band gap. Interestingly, ZnO shows increase in particle size because of ultrasound impact leading to decrease in photocatalytic activity.