Paper Details

Pure ZrO2 is reported to exhibit photoluminescence in different wavelengths of UV and visible region. Thisobserved luminescence is related to defects and /or impurities in the system. The luminescent properties of ZrO2, also dependstrongly on the preparation methods. Though few works on optical properties of ZrO2 were reported no detailedluminescence mechanisms were proposed. The present work investigates photoluminescence properties of reactive plasmasynthesized ZrO2 as a function of annealing temperature, time and annealing atmosphere. The as synthesized ZrO2 containsmixture of tetragonal and monoclinic phase with crystallite size 15 nm and 25 nm respectively. The UV – visible absorptionstudies of the sample demonstrated two absorption bands at 3.94 and 4.5 eV which are lower than the band gap of ZrO2. Thisnarrowing of band gap was attributed to the oxygen vacancy levels developed in the band gap ZrO2. Photoluminescencespectra of ZrO2 sample showed two emission bands at 325 and 470 nm independent of excitation wavelengths. According tothe emission-intensity dependence on the annealing atmospheres, it was proposed that the 325 nm band and the 470 nm bandoriginate from F+ centers and AOD+centers, respectively

S. Jayakumar, K. Senthil kumaran, K. Senthil kumaran, J.Poongkothai, G.K.D. Prasanna venkatesan, “Photoluminescence of Reactive Plasma Synthesized ZrO2 Nanoparticles”, International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD), Vol. 4, Issue 17, pp. -, January 2017.