OAM-RC

Abstract

In this paper, we report the changes in the photoluminescent properties of the Cu-doped ZnS nanoparticles upon prolonged UV irradiation in the atmospheric conditions. The chemical precipitation technique was employed to fabricate the Cu-doped ZnS nanoparticles (~ 2.5 nm) in an aqueous media, at room temperature, using polyvinyl pyridine as the surfactant. UVVisible absorption studies have been used to calculate the band gap values of the fabricated ZnS:Cu nanoparticles. By Gaussian fitting, the PL spectrum was deconvoluted into three blue luminescence peaks (centered at 403.5 nm, 425 nm and 450 nm), attributed to the recombination of the defect states of ZnS and a blue-green peak (centered at 485nm). This blue-green luminescence may have originated from the recombination between the shallow donor level (sulfur vacancy) and the t2 level of Cu2+. An increase in the photoluminescence (PL) intensity, upon prolonged UV exposure to the ZnS:Cu nanoparticles, corresponds to an increase in the radiative transition probability, whereas no shift in the peak position was found..

Keywords

ZnS:Cu nanoparticles, UV irradiation, Photoluminescence, UV-Visible absorption.

Citation

ZINKI JINDAL, N. K. VERMA, Effect of UV radiation on the photoluminescent properties of Cu-doped ZnS nanoparticles, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 2, 3, March 2008, pp.166-169 (2008).

Submitted at: Jan. 7, 2008

Accepted at: March 16, 2008