The effect of milling time on structural, optical and photoluminescence properties of ZnO nanocrystals

The crystallite size of commercial ZnO nanocrystals was tuned from 22.5 to 13.8nm by ball-milling technique. X-ray diffraction patterns of mechanically milled ZnO nanocrystals reveal that milled samples possess the wurtzite-type hexagonal structure of ZnO. Increasing milling time results in the decr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optik (Stuttgart) 2018-03, Vol.156, p.161-168
Main Authors: Othman, A.A., Osman, M.A., Abd-Elrahim, A.G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ball milling
Energy diagram
Optical absorption spectra
Photoluminescence quenching
ZnO nanocrystals
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Summary:The crystallite size of commercial ZnO nanocrystals was tuned from 22.5 to 13.8nm by ball-milling technique. X-ray diffraction patterns of mechanically milled ZnO nanocrystals reveal that milled samples possess the wurtzite-type hexagonal structure of ZnO. Increasing milling time results in the decrease of crystallite size and reduction of lattice parameters due to a slight increase of internal compressive strain and dislocation density. Scanning electron microscope images demonstrate the appearance of large agglomerated particles with ambiguous edges due to large aggregation tendency with slight variation in the particle size at milling time 8h. Analysis of the optical absorption spectra at different milling time indicates the blue shift of exciton absorption peak and optical gap photoluminescence spectra reveal that mechanical milling of ZnO NCs leads to quenching of emission intensity due to the creation of nonradiative centers via increasing thermal strain and mechanical deformation produced during the milling process.
ISSN:0030-4026
1618-1336
DOI:10.1016/j.ijleo.2017.11.037