Photoluminescence properties of rhodamine B-supported on ZrO2-ZrO2 nanotube array composite films

In this paper, Zr foils were first anodised to prepare zirconia nanotube arrays (ZNA), then ZrO2 nanoparticles were loaded onto the zirconia nanotube arrays by a chemical precipitation method to prepare ZrO2-ZrO2 nanotube array composite films (ZrO2-ZNA), finally RhB was supported on the ZNA and ZrO2-ZNA to prepare RhB/ZNA and RhB/ZrO2-ZNA fluorescent films, respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) properties of RhB/ZNA and RhB/ZrO2-ZNA were tested and the effects of annealing temperature and RhB solution concentration on their PL properties were studied. Results show that the PL intensity of RhB/ZrO2-ZNA was obviously higher than that of RhB/ZNA, and the emission peaks of RhB/ZrO2-ZNA were much stronger when the annealing temperature was 300 °C and the RhB concentrations were between 5 and 40 mg/L. Different from the excitation and emission peaks of RhB/ethanol solutions, those of RhB/ZrO2-ZNA composite films were obviously red shifted, and the luminous efficiency of RhB/ZrO2-ZNA composite films was much higher.