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Structural and morphological properties of new composite nanocrystalline Y2O3/ZnO spheres

Nadya A. Dulina 1Yuliya V. Yermolayeva 1Alexander V. Tolmachev 1Gennady A. Emelchenko 3Alexander N. Gruzintsev 2

1. Institute for Single Crystals NAS of Ukraine (ISC), 60 Lenin Ave., Kharkov 61001, Ukraine
2. Institute of Microelectronics Technology, Russian Academy of Science (IMTRAS), Institutskaja, 6, Chernogolovka 142432, Russian Federation
3. Institute of Solid State Physics, RAS, Chernogolovka, Russian Federation

Abstract

Last years, an explosive growth of the number of researches devoted to the creation and design of the new crystalline nanocomposite materials has been observed. For example, composite nanoparticles (core–shell structured or hollow, raspberry-like and others), nanopowders and crystalline nanostructures attract considerable attention due to the ability to adjust their properties in a wide range depending on the structure, composition and geometrical proportions. We propose mono-sized polycrystalline Y2O3 nano- and submicrospheres as matrix material for ZnO nanocrystals preparation. Y2O3 as well as other rare-earth oxides with the well-defined spherical morphology were successfully obtained by urea-based homogeneous precipitation (UBHP) by taking advantages of high control of the sizes (40-400 nm) and monodispersity of the particles as well as economic efficiency.

Highly UV luminescent ZnO nanocrystals were obtained in the voids of mesoporous Y2O3 spherical particles of different diameters by means of infiltration technique with subsequent thermolysis (T= 600 ºC). The main idea is the application of mesoporous UBHP–prepared Y2O3 spheres with the porosity till 50% as a matrix with high chemical and thermal stability for preparation of isolated ZnO nanocrystals. Nanostructure, morphology and composition of obtained composite particles were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), thermal analysis (DTA-TG), BET, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The ZnO nanophase were found to begin crystallization in the Y2O3 matrixes at 300 °C and its crystalline structure was improved with the increase of annealing temperature till 900°C without anysolid-phase reactions between Y2O3 and ZnO. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra of Y2O3-ZnO composite particles show intensive UV emission at 340 nm with almost absence impurity visible luminescence.It has been shown that the position of UV luminescence of the composites and its intensity strongly depends on the annealing temperature and the spheres diameter. The possible reasons of such phenomenon were also discussed.

 

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Related papers

Presentation: Poster at 17th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy - ICCGE-17, General Session 8, by Nadya A. Dulina
See On-line Journal of 17th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy - ICCGE-17

Submitted: 2013-03-28 15:08
Revised:   2013-03-28 15:08