Synthesis and White-Light Emission of ZnO/HfO2: Eu Nanocables
Key Laboratory for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2010, 5:1418-1423 doi:10.1007/s11671-010-9655-5Published: 1 June 2010
ZnO/HfO2:Eu nanocables were prepared by radio frequency sputtering with electrospun ZnO nanofibers as cores. The well-crystallized ZnO/HfO2:Eu nanocables showed a uniform intact core–shell structure, which consisted of a hexagonal ZnO core and a monoclinic HfO2 shell. The photoluminescence properties of the samples were characterized. A white-light band emission consisted of blue, green, and red emissions was observed in the nanocables. The blue and green emissions can be attributed to the zinc vacancy and oxygen vacancy defects in ZnO/HfO2:Eu nanocables, and the yellow–red emissions are derived from the inner 4f-shell transitions of corresponding Eu3+ ions in HfO2:Eu shells. Enhanced white-light emission was observed in the nanocables. The enhancement of the emission is ascribed to the structural changes after coaxial synthesis.