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Effect of metal/metal oxide coupling on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO microrods

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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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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia for providing the research funding under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (203.PBAHAN.6071327) and AUN/SEED Net under Collaborative Research Program (CR) (304.PBAHAN.6050354) for providing the research funding to conduct this project.

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Author notes

  1. Sock-Kuan Soo and Anh Thi Le contributed equally in this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

    Sock-Kuan Soo, Anh Thi Le, Swee-Yong Pung & Srimala Sreekantan

  2. Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan

    Atsunori Matsuda

  3. Faculty Faculty of Materials Technology, National Key Lab. of Polymer and Composite Materials, HoChiMinh University of Technology, Vietnam National University, HoChiMinh, Vietnam

    Dai Phu Huynh

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  1. Sock-Kuan Soo
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Correspondence to Swee-Yong Pung.

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Soo, SK., Le, A.T., Pung, SY. et al. Effect of metal/metal oxide coupling on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO microrods. Appl. Phys. A 124, 783 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2208-y

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