ZnO:Cu/ZnO core/shell nanocrystals are synthesized by a two-step solution-phase process. The morphology, structure and optical properties of the samples are detected by scanning electron microscopy, Raman, absorption and luminescence spectroscopy. The increase of particle size confirms the growth of ZnO shell. The segregation of CuO phase observed in ZnO: Cu core is not detected in ZnO:Cu/ZnO core/shell nanocrystals from Raman spectra. It is suggested that some Cu ions can be segregated from ZnO nanocrystals, and the separated Cu ions can be incorporated inside ZnO shell after the growth of ZnO shell. The visible emission mechanism is discussed in detail, and the photoluminescence analysis indicates that the core/shell structure helps to eliminate the surface-related emission.
ZnS:Mn2+ nanocrystals(NCs) with particle size from 1.9 nm to 3.2 nm are synthesized via chemical precipitation method with different [S2-]/[Zn2+] ratios.The size-dependent decay for Mn emission exhibits a double exponential behavior.And two lifetime values,in millisecond time domain,can both be shortened with size increasing,which is attributed to enhanced interaction between host and Mn2+ impurity.A molecular structure model is proposed to interpret the tendency of two lifetime components,which is correlated to the number of S vacancy(Vs) defects around Mn2+.
ZnO nanorods prepared by a solution-phase method are annealed at different temperatures in oxygen ambient.The luminescence properties of the samples are investigated.In the same excitation condition,the photoluminescence(PL) spectra of all samples show an ultraviolet(UV) emission and a broad strong visible emission band.The asymmetric visible emis-sion band of annealed samples has a red-shift as the annealing temperature increasing from 200 ℃ to 600 ℃ and it can be deconvoluted into two subband emissions centered at 535 nm(green emission) and 611 nm(orange-red emission) by Gaussian-fitting analysis.Analyses of PL excitation(PLE) spectra and PL spectra at different excitation wavelengths reveal that the green emission and the orange-red emission have a uniform initial state,which can be attributed to the electron transition from Zn interstitial(Zni) to oxygen vacancy(Vo) and oxygen interstitial(Oi),respectively.
Undoped ZnS nanocrystals(NCs) with different precursor molar ratios of [S2-]/[Zn2+] are prepared by the chemical precipitation method.The structural and optical properties of the samples are characterized by the X-ray diffraction(XRD) spectra,photoluminescence(PL) spectra and PL decay spectra.The XRD analysis shows that the crystal quality of ZnS NCs becomes better and the grain size is larger at higher [S2-]/[Zn2+] ratios.The PL peaked at 430 nm decreases with the [S2-]/[Zn2+] ratio increasing,which is ascribed to the structure defects of NCs.A multi-exponential decay time curve with hundreds of picoseconds,several nanoseconds and tens of nanoseconds is obtained,which also shows a distinct and regular change with [S2-]/[Zn2+] ratio.It is indicated that the PL and emission decay properties of ZnS NCs mainly depend on the change of the defects number from different particle sizes.
