Low-temperature growth and optical properties of Ce-doped ZnO nanorods

Abstract

Ce-doped ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on zinc foils by a hydrothermal method at 180 � C. The effects of Ce-doping on the structure and optical properties of ZnO nanorods were investigated in detail. The characterisation of the rod array with X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that Ce 3þ ions were incorporated into the ZnO lattices. There were no diffraction peaks of Ce or cerium oxide in the pattern. From UV-Vis spectra, we observed a red shift in the wavelength of absorption and decreased band gap due to the Ce ion incorporation in ZnO. The photoluminescence integrated intensity ratio of the UV emission to the deep-level green emission (I UV /I DLE ) was 1.25 and 2.87, for ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO nanorods, respectively, which shows a great promise for the Ce-doped ZnO nanorods with applications in optoelectronic devices.

Ion beam fluence induced variation in optical band-gap of ZnO nanowires

“…Its wide optical band-gap, large excitonic binding energy (60 meV), higher breakdown voltages, ability to sustain large electric fields, lower electronic noise, efficient UV stimulated emission at room temperature are some remarkable features due to which it possess a broad range of applications from photo-detectors and optical switches, nanolasers and LEDs, piezoelectric generators to chemical and bio-sensors [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In addition to these exciting properties, the different shapes and morphology (nanowires, nanorods, nanobelts, nanohelices and nanotubes) of ZnO at nanoscale add more functionality to its application base [16][17][18][19].…”

Photoluminescence and Electrical Properties of n-Ce-Doped ZnO Nanoleaf/p-Diamond Heterojunction

“…Doping is a viable method to improve the quality and performance of semiconductors. Rare earth (RE) doping of ZnO is very interesting and attractive because the shielded 4f energy level of Re 3+ can cause multifarious clearly defined narrow optical jumps between the spin–orbit energy level splitting in different manifold weak crystal fields, thus causing significant changes in the optoelectronics of the semiconductor [ 18 ]. There have been some reports on RE elements doped with ZnO, including Er, La, Yb, and Eu [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”