OICC Press Trends in Phytochemical Research 2588-3631 8 3 2024 09 28 Synthesis and optical properties of zinc oxide/carbon quantum dots nanocomposites 167 175 10.71596/tpr.2024.1126741 EN Sedighe Zaheri Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, 96179-76487, Iran Hamid Akherat Doost Department of Physics, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran 14696-69191, Iran Ehsan Koushki Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, 96179-76487, Iran Reza Tayebee Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, 96179-76487 Journal Article 2024 09 28 Due to their special properties and applications, nanoparticles have received a lot of attention and attracted researchers. Meanwhile, zinc oxide nanoparticles have excellent transparency, electrical, and optical properties. In this research, nanoparticles were synthesized using the hydrothermal method, and a ZnO-CQDs/PVA nanocomposite was prepared using the injection method into a polymer substrate. Optical and structural properties were investigated by various methods such as TEM, XRD, UV-VIS, and DLS. The energy gap in quantum dot zinc oxide-carbon nanocomposite with concentrations of 1240, 2840, and 3720 micrograms injected into the polymer solution was calculated as 3.38, 3.39, and 3.4 eV, respectively. The results show that the energy gap increases with the increase in carbon quantum dots in the nanocomposite indicating the effect of the Burstein-Moss phenomenon. This phenomenon means an increase in the energy gap in semiconductor materials, which can improve the performance of nanoelectronic and optical materials.