Fluorescence Invigoration in Carbon-Incorporated Zinc Oxide Nanowires from Passage of Field Emission Electrons

Abstract

We demonstrate that carbon incorporated Zinc Oxide (C-ZnO) nanowires (NWs) exhibit remarkable improvement in the extent and quality of fluorescence emission after they are utilized as an electron source in a field emission experiment. After the passage of field emission electrons, the intensity of the fluorescence emitted from these NWs in the visible light range exhibits a 2.5 to 8 fold enhancement. The intrinsic exciton peak of the ZnO also becomes heightened, along with the crystalline quality of the NWs showing marked improvement. This invigoration of fluorescence across the entire fluorescence spectrum is attributed to concurrent removal of oxygen and carbon atoms in C-ZnO NWs due to electro-migration of atoms and joule heating during the field emission process. Applications based on ZnO NWs emission from excitonic emissions or visible wavelength emissions or both can benefit from this straightforward method of defect engineering.

Zinc Oxide Nanocomposites—Extracellular Synthesis, Physicochemical Characterization and Antibacterial Potential

“…Surface plasmon resonance occurs as a resonance effect due to the interaction of nanoparticle conduction electrons with incident photons [ 61 ]. This interaction is related to a large enhancement of the field intensity and, consequently, with the enhancement of the fluorescence signal [ 60 , 62 , 63 ]. A similar effect was presented by many researchers [ 5 , 10 , 54 , 62 ] as well as in our previous work [ 54 ]—the addition of synthesized ZnO NCs enabled an improvement in the intensity of fluorescence emission.…”

“…This interaction is related to a large enhancement of the field intensity and, consequently, with the enhancement of the fluorescence signal [ 60 , 62 , 63 ]. A similar effect was presented by many researchers [ 5 , 10 , 54 , 62 ] as well as in our previous work [ 54 ]—the addition of synthesized ZnO NCs enabled an improvement in the intensity of fluorescence emission. The consequences of the observed surface plasmon resonance, such as the increase in the fluorescence signal, create new application possibilities for biologically synthesized ZnO NCs, e.g., as biosensors in medical diagnostics.…”

Electrically Tailored Metachrosis in ZnO-C Nanowires

“…An example of a green fluorescing ZnO NW with minimal carbon content can be found in Figure S9. The green fluorescence is widely attributed to oxygen vacancies in ZnO, in this instance left behind via the removal of carbon from the crystal lattice. , Previous reports have indicated annealing of ZnO:C NWs can also result in removal of carbon defects and green fluorescence of ZnO NWs due to oxygen vacancies. ,, …”

“…4,7 Previous reports have indicated annealing of ZnO:C NWs can also result in removal of carbon defects and green fluorescence of ZnO NWs due to oxygen vacancies. 7,24,25 The proposed mechanism of the above-stated phenomena relies on the consideration of the NW as multiple segments in series as it is heterogeneous. For the convenience of discussion, we shall consider a NW comprising of only two segments.…”

Structural and optical characteristics of nanoparticles of zinc oxide based ternary compounds generated by simple sol-gel technique.

“…All of the compounds in our investigation had three significant peaks: a violet band peak at  410 nm, a high intensity blue band peak at  460 nm, and a broad green band peak at  510 nm. The dominant violet, blue and green emission (all in the visible region) peaks observed in the compounds may correspond to intrinsic defects present in ZnO [5][6]42,44,[48][49][50][51]. The violet emission band is created by an electron transfer from the shallow donor level to the valance band (VB) and indicates a radiative recombination transition.…”