Development of Tb-doped ZnO nanorods: Effect of nitrogen ion irradiation on luminescence and structural evolution

✍ Scribed by Bayan, S. ;Das, U. ;Mohanta, D.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 404 KB
• Volume: 207
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8965
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.200925525

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In this work, we present surfactant‐(cetyl‐trimethyl ammonium bromide, CTAB) assisted solid‐state fabrication and characterization of hydroxyl‐free ZnO and Tb‐doped ZnO nanorods. 80‐MeV nitrogen ion irradiation (fluence: upto 8 × 10^12^ ions/cm^2^) was performed to explore irradiation‐induced modification in the structural and optical properties of the nanorods. In the asymmetrically broadened photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the irradiated samples, the band‐edge emission (∼370 nm) is found to be suppressed due to the dominance of the defect related emissions. Apart from ZnO‐defect‐related emissions (within 405–535 nm) due to zinc/oxygen vacancies, interstitial etc., we have adequately identified the Tb‐related ^5^D~4~–^7^F~6~ and ^5^D~4~–^7^F~5~ transitions at ∼490 and 548 nm, respectively. At the highest fluence (8 × 10^12^ ions/cm^2^), the nanorod structural ordering is lost, which is characterized by a luminescence quenching. The nitrogen irradiation at the chosen energy/fluence, and selective Tb‐related transitions are promising for precise control over tunability in the specific luminescence patterns of interest.