Synthesis and luminescence properties of vanadium-doped nanosized zinc oxide aerogel

We report the elaboration of vanadium-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by a sol–gel processing technique. In our approach, the water for hydrolysis was slowly released by esterification reaction followed by a supercritical drying in ethyl alcohol. Vanadium doping concentration of 10 at% has been investigated. The obtained nanopowder was characterised by various techniques such as particle size analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL). In the as-prepared state, the powder with an average particle size of 25 nm presents a strong luminescence band in the visible range after thermal treatment at 500 °C in air. The energy position of the obtained PL band depends on the wavelength excitation and presents a blue shift with measurement temperature increase. Different possible attributions of this emission band will be discussed.