Injection of carriers from a ZnO nanostructured shell to a ZnS based microsphere core

Abstract

ZnO nanostructures were synthesized on a microsphere ZnS:Cu,Cl (ZC) with various optical emission bands. Using an electroluminescence (EL) device with a semiliquid type of active layer, the carrier injection phenomenon through the nanostructure was observed. The EL from ZnO nanorods on the cubic ZC and the ZnO plate on the hexagonal ZC showed a nonlinear voltage-color characteristic and deep blue color, respectively, as explained by the carrier injection through the ZnO nanostructures. Both carrier injection cases appear to have been caused by the lowered band-gap energy at the boundary and by the structural factors that focused the applied electric field.