Luminescence behavior of Eu3+ activated ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite phosphor

Eu doped ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite powder samples with different Eu3+ concentration (0.05–1.00 wt%), were synthesized by low temperature co-precipitation method. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed the presence of both hexagonal ZnO and tetragonal SnO2 simultaneously. The crystallite size was estimated, using Debye Scherrer's method and Hall–Williamson method and it was found to be in the range of 5 nm to 20 nm. Formation of desired compound was further confirmed by Fourier Transform Infra-red spectrometer. FTIR spectra recognized the stretching mode of ZnO and SnO with the presence of stretching and bending vibration of absorbed water molecule (OH). The FESEM images revealed the nanosphere type structure of Eu3+ doped ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite with a dimension of 50–70 nm. The room temperature photoluminescence emission spectra shows about 5 times enhancement (compared to Eu doped ZnO and Eu doped SnO2) in the peak centered at 592 nm for the transition 5D0 → 7F1, representative of magnetic dipole transition of Eu3+ ion. Other then this several emissions peaks are observed due to zinc, tin and oxygen related defects. The study shows that the Eu3+ doped nanocomposite is more suitable material than singly Eu doped ZnO and Eu doped SnO2 with enhanced opto-electronic and luminescence properties and great applications in display devices.