Wettability enhancement, optical and structural for Ce: ZnO combination by Sol-Gel method

Nanocrystalline pure and Ce: ZnO was prepared using the dip-coating Sol-Gel method. The main goal of this study is to investigate and enhance ZnO wettability by Ce doping concentration changing. By studying the structural and optical analysis of Ce: ZnO, absorption spectrum was found in the UV area for pure ZnO and Increasing the cerium concentration achieved a red shift towards the visible region. Then, nanocrystalline construction and morphology were considered by XRD and AFM separately. XRD patterns appeared wurtzite ZnO crystalline size 63.2, 34.6, and 38.4 nm for doping concentrations 1, 3, and 5% respectively while AFM explains the minimum value of roughness 4.7 nm at 3%. Contact angle measurements illustrate that the 5% Ce sample was more active than the others because it has a large surface area (smallest nano-particle size) and this is a novel good result for self-cleaning applications.