Green emission from ZnO–MgO nanocomposite due to Mg diffusion at the interface

The origin and electronic transitions responsible for green emission observed from ZnO–MgO nanocomposite are investigated. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of ZnO–MgO nanocomposite annealed at 600 °C showed only a sharp and intense UV emission peak centered at 396 nm. As the annealing temperature increased from 600 °C to 1000 °C, the green emission positioned at 503 nm is emerged and its intensity enhanced gradually and reached maximum value at 900 °C and then decreased at 1000 °C. It is observed that both UV and green emission intensities are enhanced with variation of atomic ratio (Zn/Mg=1.52, 0.50, 0.30, 0.21, 0.15). Our experiments confirmed that the enhancement of green emission intensity is due to the formation of oxygen vacancies (V_o) due to Mg doping at the interface of ZnO and MgO. This experimental observation is in good agreement with the recent theoretical predictions which states that Mg doping in ZnO lowers the formation energies of oxygen vacancies (V_o) and zinc interstitials (Zn_i) significantly. PL excitation and emission spectra analysis reveals that excited state for both UV and green emissions is same and lies 0.24 eV below the conduction band of ZnO. Hence, the green emission is attributed to the transition of an electron form the shallow donor (defect level of Zn_i) to the deep acceptor (defect level of V_o). - Highlights: • It is found that the UV emission intensity from ZnO–MgO nanocomposite enhanced with increase of Mg concentration. • The intensity of the green emission is enhanced gradually as the temperature increased from 600 °C to 900 °C and then decreased at 1000 °C. • The effect of Mg concentration, MgO, strain at the interface on green emission is investigated. • These experiments confirmed that green emission is due to the oxygen vacancies created in ZnO due to the Mg doping at the interface and it is in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. • The decrease of green emission intensity is due to the deterioration of crystal quality due to formation of I_Zn defects