Effects of heat-treatment temperature on Eu3+ and Li+ Co-doped ZnO photoluminescence by sol-gel process

Abstract

The photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of Eu3+ and Li+ co-doped ZnO PL materials against heat-treatment temperature were discussed. The PL xerogel and powder samples were prepared by solgel process. The emission spectra of all samples showed two broad bands peaking at 590 nm and 620 nm under UV-Vis excitation. But the relative intensity of red PL (620 nm) was much greater than that of green PL (590 nm) of the same sample, that’s to say, the red color was the main luminescence. With heat-treatment temperature increase, the two kinds of colors PL intensity decreased, and both the red and green PL intensity of the xerogel samples was much greater than those of powder samples respectively. The XRD patterns revealed that Eu3+ ions were successfully incorporated in ZnO crystals in xerogel samples. When heat-treatment temperature reached 350 °C, the Eu3+ began to separate out of the ZnO crystals and Eu2O3 crystals came into being. When the powder sample was subjected to UV-Vis excitation, the energy transfered from the host ZnO emission to Eu3+ became weaker than the xerogel sample.