Strong yellow-orange emission from aluminum and Indium co-doped ZnO nanostructures with potential for increasing the color gamut of displays

Aluminum and indium co-doped ZnO (AIZO) nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple sol–gel route. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using different techniques such as XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, FTIR, UV–Vis, PL spectroscopy and ion-beam-induced luminescence (IBIL) measurement. AIZO nanocrystals showed brilliant orange emission with very narrow band width (FWHM of 12 nm), which has not been reported before. The luminescent nanoparticles were embedded into an epoxy polymer. Prepared AIZO composite also exhibited strong emission peaks in the yellow-orange range at room temperature. Results showed that AIZO nanoparticles could be good candidate for the use in lighting applications.