Synthesis and Optical Properties of Pure and Eu⁺³ Ion Doped ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared Via Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

Eu-doped Zinc Oxide nanoparticles, with wurtzite hexagonal phase have been successfully synthesized via simple sol-gel method. Crystallinity, morphologies and optical properties of the as-prepared nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). XRD results indicated that trivalent europium ions were successfully doped into the crystal lattice of ZnO matrix with ~13 nm average crystallite size. X-ray peak broadening analysis was used to evaluate the average crystallite size and lattice strain by the Williamson-Hall (W-H) method. Photoluminescence spectroscopic results indicated that the emission peak located at ~610 nm was attributed to the 4f–4f intra-shell transition of ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ incorporated into wurtzite ZnO host by substitution on the Zn sub lattice.