White light-emitting ZnO:Dy3+ nanophosphors: delving into the spectroscopic parameters via Judd-Ofelt analysis.

Developing a single-phase white emitting nanophosphor with high quantum efficiency has become a hotspot for scientific world. Herein, single-phase white-light emitting Zn1-xO:xDy3+ nanophosphors have been synthesized via a sonochemical method. X-ray diffraction analysis and Raman spectroscopy-based investigations confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite phase for Zn1-xO:xDy3+ nanophosphors with preferential growth along the (101) plane. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the formation of a ribbon-shaped morphology with a diameter of ∼25 nm. The emission spectra of the Dy3+-activated ZnO nanophosphors exhibited three distinct peaks, namely blue (480 nm), yellow (572 nm), and red (635 nm) emissions, under near-UV excitations related to the 4F9/2 → 6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, and 11/2) transitions of Dy3+ ions. The values of CIE chromaticity coordinates for the optimized phosphor (x = 0.329, y = 0.334) with correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5657 K indicated cool white-light emission from the phosphor. The thermal stability of ZnO:Dy3+ nanophosphors was probed by temperature-dependent luminescence. Quantitative evaluation of Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters, radiative parameters, luminescence decay, and quantum efficiency of Zn1-xO:xDy3+ using the J-O theory suggests that these nanophosphors are promising luminescent media for commercial white LEDs and other display devices.

Suppression of Visible Emission in Low-Temperature Synthesized Cobalt-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles and Their Photosensing Applications.

Cobalt (Co)-doped ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized at 100 °C using a simple chemical technique, without post-deposition annealing. These nanoparticles are of excellent crystallinity and show a significant reduction in defect density upon Co-doping. By varying the Co solution concentration, it is observed that oxygen-vacancy-related defects are suppressed at lower Co-doping, while the defect density shows an increasing trend at higher doping densities. This suggests that mild doping can significantly suppress the defects in ZnO for electronic and optoelectronic applications. The effect of Co-doping is studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL), electrical conductivity, and Mott-Schottky plots. Photodetectors fabricated using pure and Co-doped ZnO nanoparticles show a noticeable reduction in the response time upon Co-doping, which again affirms the reduction in the defect density after Co-doping.