Abstract
Despite its unique properties, zinc oxide (ZnO) particles have limited usage in optoelectronic devices and biochemical sensors due to its relatively poor ultraviolet (UV) emission. In this research, the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of metal nanoparticles such as silver (Ag), aluminium (Al), copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) that were coupled with ZnO microrods was studied. The metal coupled ZnO microrods were synthesized by solution impregnated method. The metal nanoparticles were clearly observed deposited onto the surface of ZnO microrods using transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping. The room temperature photoluminescence (RTPL) analysis of ZnO microrods coupled with Al, Ag, Fe showed remarkable improvement of UV emission and quenching of defect related emission. The intensity ratio (Iuv/Ivis) of ZnO microrods was 1.6 but was enhanced to 26.1, 4.4, and 4.0 by coupling of Al, Ag and Fe, respectively. However, when Cu was embedded onto ZnO microrods, the Iuv/Ivis of ZnO microrods was suppressed to 0.1. The photoluminescent mechanism of Al, Ag and Fe–ZnO particles was attributed to LSPR effect. In contrary, deposition of Cu onto ZnO microrods induced energy level in bandgap of ZnO, producing the visible light emission.
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