| NUKLEONIKA 2013, 58(1):189-194
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE AND POSITRON ANNIHILATION LIFETIME STUDIES ON PELLETS OF ZnO NANOCRYSTALSAndrzej Karbowski, Kamil Fedus, Jaromir Patyk, Łukasz Bujak, Krzysztof Służewski, Grzegorz Karwasz Nicolaus Copernicus University, Institute of Physics, 5/7 Grudziądzka Str., 87-100 Toruń, Poland We explore the interrelationships between the X-ray diffraction patterns, the photoluminescence spectra and the positron lifetimes obtained from circular pellets composed of commercial ZnO nanoparticles. The experimental results are studied as a function of thermal treatment at different temperatures. X-ray diffractograms reveal the tem-perature-independent wurtzite phase structure of nanocrystals and show huge enlargement of ZnO grains after annealing at temperatures higher than 700°C. Photoluminescence measurements exhibit two emission bands: a near band edge emission in UV (~378 nm) and a defect-related broad visible peak with a maximum in the green region (~502 nm). The significant enhancement of the green emission at the expense of UV luminescence is observed after sample sintering at 800 and 1000°C. The positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is applied in order to study the thermally induced evolution of defects. The lifetime components show a step-like dependence on the thermal treatment, but do not follow exactly the variation in crystallographic phases and only vaguely follow differences in photoluminescence. The positron data indicate therefore some additional structural and/or defect changes. The possible origin of green luminescence from ZnO pellets is discussed. Close X |