Structural and Optical Properties of Cu²⁺ + Ce³⁺ Co-Doped ZnO by Solution Combustion Method

Abstract

In this work , ZnO, Ce 3+ doped ZnO (ZnO/Ce 3+ ) and Cu 2+ + Ce 3+ co-doped ZnO (ZnO/Cu 2+ + Ce 3+ ) solid solutions powders were synthesized by a solution combus tion method maintaining the Ce 3+ ion concentration constant in 3%Wt while the Cu 2+ ion concentration was varied in 1, 2, 3, 10 and 20%Wt. After its synthesis , all the samples were annealed at 900?C by 24 h. The ZnO, ZnO/Ce 3+ and ZnO/Cu 2+ + Ce 3+ powders were structurally characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, and the XRD patterns showed that for pure ZnO, Cu 2+ undoped ZnO/Ce 3 + and ZnO/Ce 3+ doped with the Cu 2+ ion, the three samples exhibited the hexagona l wurtzite ZnO crystalline structure. Howeve r, the morphology and particle size of both samples were observed by means of a scanning electron microscopy (SEM); from SEM image , it is observed that the crystallites of both samples are agglomerated forming bigger amorphous particles with an approximate average size of 1 μm. In addition, the photoluminescence of the ZnO, Ce 3+ doped ZnO and Cu 2+ + Ce 3+ doped ZnO samples was measurement under an illumination of 209 nm wavelength (UV region): for the ZnO/Ce 3+ sample , your emission spectrum is in the visible region from blue color until red color; the UV band of the ZnO i s suppressed. The multicolor emission visible is attributed to the Ce 3+ ion photoluminescence, while for th e ZnO/Cu 2+ + Ce 3+ , its emission PL spectrum i s quenching by the Cu 2+ ion, present in the ZnO crystalline.