Raman study of surface optical phonons in ZnO(Mn) nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline samples of ZnO(Mn) were characterized by X-ray diffraction to determine composition of the samples (ZnO, Mn3O4, ZnMn2O4 and ZnMnO3) and the mean crystalline size (between 9 and 13 nm for ZnMnO3 phases, from 24 to 47 nm for Mn3O4 phases and above 100 nm for ZnO and ZnMn2O4 phases). In this paper we report the experimental spectra of Raman scattering (from 200 to 1600 cm−1) with surface optical phonons (SOP) in range of 520–575 cm−1. The phonon of registered phases exhibits effects connected to phase concentration, while the SOP phonon mode exhibits significant confinement effect.