TITLE:
Influenza of the Cu Ion on the Structural and Optical Properties in Cu + Ce Co-Doped ZnO Compounds
AUTHORS:
S. López-Romero, M. J. Quiroz Jiménez, M. García-Hipólito, J. Chávez-Ramírez
KEYWORDS:
Zinc Oxide, Copper-Cerium, Co-Doped, Solution-Combustion
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Condensed Matter Physics,
Vol.7 No.2,
May
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: This article showed and explained the effects of the Cu2+ ions
on the structural and photoluminescent properties of Ce3+ doped ZnO
compounds (ZnO: Ce3+) in Cu2+ + Ce3+ co-doped
ZnO (ZnO: Cu2+ + Ce3+) solid solutions powders. The
samples were synthesized by a solution combustion method maintaining the Ce3+ ion concentration constant in 3%wt and varying the Cu2+ ion
concentration in 0%wt, 1%wt, 2%wt, 3%wt, 10%wt and 20%wt. However, pristine ZnO and Ce3+ doped ZnO were synthesized by the
same method for comparison. After the synthesis process all the samples were annealed at 900°C
by 24 h. The pure ZnO, ZnO: Ce3+ and
ZnO/Cu2+ + Ce3 powders were structurally characterized
using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, the XRD patterns showed that for either
undoped and doped with the Cu2+ ion both exhibited the hexagonal
wurtzite ZnO crystalline structure, also the diffraction peaks of both samples
types showed a little change toward lesser angles. The morphology and particle
size of the samples were observed by means of a scanner electron microscopy
(SEM); from SEM imagen is observed that the crystallites of the samples are
agglomerated forming cage-like hollow structures caused by the combustion
process. The cage-like structures have approximate size of 800 nm. In
addition, the photoluminescence of pure ZnO, ZnO: Ce3+and ZnO: Cu2+ + Ce3+ compounds was measurement as a function of Cu2+ ion concentration under
a excitation wavelength of 378 nm in
the UV region. As an important result, it is observed that by Auger phenomena
of non-radiative recombination, the UV emission of the ZnO is quenching.