Preparation and Luminescence Properties of Nano-ZnO Synthesized by Methanol Alcoholysis Method

Abstract

ZnO nanopowders were synthesized in the solution of methanol by the alcoholysis method at 130 °C. The structure, morphology and optical properties of ZnO nanocrystals were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The results show that six prism rod-like structure of  ZnO nanocrystals could be obtained in methanol solution at lower temperature (130 °C) and without using the mineralizer. Besides, ZnO nanocrystals synthesized by the methanol alcoholysis include a little organic impurity. Furthermore, the performance of ZnO nanocrystals is improved after Al doping. PL spectra reveal that ZnO nanocrystals have a strong blue emission band (peak at 440 nm) in the visible range (400 nm–700 nm). The ZnO nanocrystals, with 3% Al doping, exhibits the two blue emission peaks and a green emission peak appearing at 440 nm, 470 nm and 530 nm, respectively.

Keywords:

• Alcoholysis method
• Al doped ZnO nanocrystals
• Luminescent characteristic

Acknowledgment

This work was financially supported by the following funds: (1) the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61066003); (2) the JiangXi Province Key Technology R&D Program, China (No. 2010BGA01100); (3) the Education Bureau of Jiangxi Province, China (No. GJJ09540, GJJ10567, GJJ10568); and (4) the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No. 2009GZW0013).