Journal of Molecular Structure 1310 (2024) 138187 Available online 2 April 2024 0022-2860/© 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Studies on chemically prepared Zn 1-2x Sn x V x O nanoparticles for supercapacitor application L.Bruno Chandrasekar a , M.Manoj Prabu b , G. Thanigaivel c , N. Shankar d , S.Rafi Ahamed e , M. Karunakaran f, ** , P Shunmuga Sundaram g, * a Department of Physics, The Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu, India b Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India c Department of Electronics and Communication, The Kavery Engineering college, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India d Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan University, Samayapuram, Tamil Nadu, India e Department of Physics, School of Engineering and Technology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan University, Samayapuram, Tamil Nadu, India f Department of Physics, Alagappa Govt. Arts College, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India g Department of Physics, Loyola College of Arts & Science, Mettala, Tamil Nadu, India A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Nanoparticles Co-precipitation Band gap P-type Specific capacitance ABSTRACT The present study reports the preparation of Zn 1–2x Sn x V x O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) nanoparticles synthesized by the co- precipitation method. Phase determination and structural properties are carried out using the X-ray diffraction technique. Young’s modulus, bond length and bond angles are examined. The change in the crystallite size, texture coefficient and bond length indicates that the dopants Sn and V are successfully incorporated in the Zn lattice. The average crystallite size ranges from ~32 – 19 nm for various doping concentrations of tin & vana- dium. The texture coefficient increases due to the addition of the dopant. The band gap is 3.253 eV when x = 0.00 and the same is 3.229 eV when x = 0.10. Due to the addition of dopants, a red-shifted band gap is observed. The charge carrier concentration increases as the doping concentration of tin & vanadium increases and the prepared nanoparticles are p-type in nature. More vacancies and more defects are observed from the dielectric studies. The doping increases the specific capacitance and a maximum specific energy density of 11,372 J/kg is observed. 1. Introduction Zinc oxide is a direct band gap semiconductor (E g = 3.37 eV) that has large excitonic binding energy (60 meV), high mobility (50–60 cm 2 V  1 s  1 ) and high refractive index (2.0) [1,2]. Doping is an easy and efficient way to tune the properties of ZnO nanoparticles. It has many applications in various fields including anti-microbial study [3], dye degradation [4], spintronics [5], water splitting [6], gas sensors [7], solar cells [8], UV detectors [9] and supercapacitors [10]. Recently many works on co-doped ZnO nanoparticles have been reported in the literature. Mn, Li co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by D. K. Dubey et al. [11]. It is observed that Li doping oxidizes the Mn-cations in the ZnO lattice. The Mn-cation exists in higher oxidation states. From the Scherer method, Williamson-Hall method and size-strain plot, it is pre- dicted that the crystallite size of the prepared nanoparticles increases as the concentration of Li increases. The decomposition of methylene blue using these prepared nanoparticles was studied. The decomposition ef- ficiency increases from 87% to 93% as the doping concentration of Li increases from 0% to 6% in the presence of Mn-cation. The prepared nanoparticles are the most efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue. By using microwave-assisted combustion synthesis method, Mn, Co co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized. The crystallite size as well as the band gap decreases due to the addition of Mn. The sample shows paramagnetic and ferromagnetic behavior and there is no linear variation of magnetic moment [12]. Novel Gd, N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by precipitation method. The diffraction patterns showed lower intensity compared to pure ZnO. It has the band gap of 3.09 eV and it has high light absorption capability [13]. The enhanced oxygen vacancy and the variation in the photo- luminescence intensities are reported in Ni, Mn co-doped ZnO * Corresponding author at: Loyola College of Arts & Science, Mettala 636 202, Tamil Nadu, India. ** Corresponding author at: Alagappa Government Arts College, Karaikudi 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail addresses: tvdkaruna@gmail.com (M. Karunakaran), cpssundaram@gmail.com (P.S. Sundaram). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Molecular Structure journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molstr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2024.138187 Received 22 February 2024; Received in revised form 26 March 2024; Accepted 29 March 2024