Yellow–red luminescence in ZnO nanoparticles synthesized from zinc acetylacetonate phenanthroline

• Zinc acetylacetonate phenanthroline is used for the synthesis of ZnO.
• Strong yellow–red luminescence from zinc oxide nanoparticles.
• Possibility of white light generation from these ZnO products.
• Simple microwave irradiation technique is used for the synthesis.

ZnO powders/thin films/coatings when excited by a suitable excitation source, usually yield green luminescence in the visible wavelength range along with characteristic ultra-violet emission. We report yellow–red emission from ZnO nanoparticles synthesized within 5 min of microwave irradiation by using zinc acetylacetonate phenanthroline as the starting precursor material. The emission is strongly dependent on the typical structure of the starting precursor for ZnO synthesis, where one phenanthroline moiety is attached with zinc acetylacetonate hydrate complex. These ZnO nanoparticles could be potentially suitable phosphor for white light generation when excited by a blue laser. In contrast, the ZnO nanoparticles obtained from zinc acetylacetonate by similar method yield weak green emission.