title: The origin and dynamics of soft X-ray-excited optical luminescence of ZnO.
abstract: The distinct optical emission from ZnO materials, nanoneedles and microcrystallites synthesized with different sizes and morphologies by a flow deposition technique, is investigated with X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) and time-resolved X-ray excited optical luminescence (TR-XEOL) from a synchrotron light source at the O K and Zn L(3,2) edges. The innovative use of XEOL, allowing site-specific chemical information and luminescence information at the same time, is fundamental to provide direct evidence for the different behaviour and the crucial role of bulk and surface defects in the origin of ZnO optical emission, including dynamics. XEOL from highly crystalline ZnO nanoneedles is characterized by a sharp band-gap emission (~380 nm) and a broad red luminescence (~680 nm) related to surface defects. Luminescence from ZnO microcrystallites is mostly dominated by green emission (~510 nm) associated with defects in the core. TR-XEOL experiments show considerably faster decay dynamics in nanoneedles compared to microcrystallites for both band-gap emission and visible luminescence. Herein we make a fundamental step forward correlating for the first time the interplay of size, crystallinity, morphology and excitation energy with luminescence from ZnO materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, ISTM-CNR and INSTM, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy. lidia.armelao@unipd.it
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Armelao
authors.forename: Franziskus
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heigl
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Ramaswami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sammynaiken
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Regier
authors.forename: Robert I R
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Blyth
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zuin
authors.forename: Rami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sankari
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Tsun-Kong
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Sham
mesh_terms: D049449:Luminescence; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014965:X-Rays; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015034:Zinc Oxide