PHOTOLUMINESCENCE EMISSION OF Cu DOPED ZnS MICROSTRUCTURES SYNTHESIZED BY THERMAL EVAPORATION

Abstract

Cu doped ZnS microstructures were prepared by the thermal evaporation method using ZnS powder and CuCl2.2H2O powder as precusor materials. The microstructures was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The XRD studies indicated that there are two phases (ZnS and ZnO) at the undoped sample, but  most of the samples are only having wurtzite (hexagonal) phase of ZnS after doping. The photoluminescence emission and photoluminescence excitation of ZnS and Cu2+ doped ZnS microstructures have been studied. The photoluminescence excitation spectra of  ZnS microstructures is present around 374 nm. After doping of Cu2+ ion the absorption wavelength shifted towards the lower wavelength, this blue shift in the absorption edge is a measure of increased band gap. The emission spectrum of pure ZnS has a green emission band centred at around 520 nm. After doping with Cu2+ ion the luminescence centers were transferred to 516 nm and a strong blue peak at 440 nm appears. The reasons of these will be discussed in this paper.