XRD peak profile and optical properties analysis of Ag-doped h-MoO3 nanorods synthesized via hydrothermal method

In the present experiment, we presented the nanocrystalline pure and silver (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 M%)-doped hexagonal molybdenum trioxide rods synthesized by using facile and cost-effective hydrothermal method and analyzed the effects of Ag contents of different microstructural and optical properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the hexagonal crystal structure of the nanorods, supported by FTIR spectra. The Debye–Scherrer formula, Williamson–Hall (W–H), Halder–Wagner (H–W), and size–strain plot (SSP) techniques were applied to investigate different crystallographic characteristics such as crystallite size and lattice strain of h-MoO3 nanorods by evaluating the broadening of XRD peaks. The different relevant structural parameters of the resultant h-MoO3 nanorods connected to XRD analysis such as dislocation density, lattice parameters, unit cell volume, and stacking fault have also been evaluated. The formation of nanorod shape and the presence of Ag contents were confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectroscopy, respectively. The optical bandgap was estimated via both Kubelka–Munk (K–M) and Tauc’s rules. The estimated values of the bandgap were found to be in the range of 2.83–3.04 eV. The optical bandgap increased with the increased of Ag contents up to 0.4 M% and afterword decreased up to 0.8 M%. The similar variation trend of optical bandgap was observed for both methods.