Fabrication and charaterization of silica nanocoatings on ZnS phosphor particles

With the addition of the cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), continuous and uniform silica nanocoatings on ZnS phosphors have been successfully obtained. The coatings are proven to cover ZnS phosphors completely by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta potential and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The XPS and Fourier transform infrared red (FT-IR) spectroscopy results provide evidence of the presence of Zn-O-Si bonds between the silica coatings and ZnS phosphors. It is suggested that the bridging effect of CTAC favours the formation of silica coatings, and Zn-O-Si bonds are formed during the annealing procedure