Luminescence of SiO2-BaF2:Tb3+, Eu3+ Nano-Glass-Ceramics Made from Sol–Gel Method at Low Temperature

The synthesis and characterization of multicolor light-emitting nanomaterials based on rare earths (RE3+) are of great importance due to their possible use in optoelectronic devices, such as LEDs or displays. In the present work, oxyfluoride glass-ceramics containing BaF2 nanocrystals co-doped with Tb3+, Eu3+ ions were fabricated from amorphous xerogels at 350 °C. The analysis of the thermal behavior of fabricated xerogels was performed using TG/DSC measurements (thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)). The crystallization of BaF2 phase at the nanoscale was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the changes in silicate sol–gel host were determined by attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. The luminescent characterization of prepared sol–gel materials was carried out by excitation and emission spectra along with decay analysis from the 5D4 level of Tb3+. As a result, the visible light according to the electronic transitions of Tb3+ (5D4 → 7FJ (J = 6–3)) and Eu3+ (5D0 → 7FJ (J = 0–4)) was recorded. It was also observed that co-doping with Eu3+ caused the shortening in decay times of the 5D4 state from 1.11 ms to 0.88 ms (for xerogels) and from 6.56 ms to 4.06 ms (for glass-ceramics). Thus, based on lifetime values, the Tb3+/Eu3+ energy transfer (ET) efficiencies were estimated to be almost 21% for xerogels and 38% for nano-glass-ceramics. Therefore, such materials could be successfully predisposed for laser technologies, spectral converters, and three-dimensional displays.

Printed Zinc Tin Oxide Diodes: From Combustion Synthesis to Large-Scale Manufacturing

Printed metal oxide devices have been widely desired in flexible electronic applications to allow direct integration on foils and to reduce electronic waste and associated costs. Especially, semiconductor devices made from non-critical raw materials, such as Zn, Sn (and not, for example, In), have gained much interest. Despite considerable progress in the field, the upscale requirements from lab to fab scale to produce these materials and devices remain a challenge. In this work, we report the importance of solution combustion synthesis (SCS) when compared with sol-gel in the production of zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin films using a solvent (1-methoxypropanol) that has lower environmental impact than the widely used and toxic 2-methoxyethanol. To assure the compatibility with low-cost flexible substrates in high-throughput printing techniques, a low annealing temperature of 140 ºC was achieved for these thin films by combining SCS and infrared (IR) annealing in a short processing time. These conditions allowed the transition from spin-coating (lab scale) to flexographic printing (fab scale) at a printing speed of 10 m/min in a roll-to-roll (R2R) pilot line. The ZTO (1:1 Zn:Sn-ratio) diodes show a rectification ratio of 103, a low operation voltage (≤ 3 V), promising reproducibility and low variability. The results provide the basis for further optimization (device size, encapsulation) to meet the requirements of diodes in flexible electronics applications such as passive-matrix addressing, energy harvesting and rectification.

Synthesis of ZnO and CuO nanoparticles via Sol gel method and Its Characterization by using XRD and FT-IR Analysis

Nanotechnology is a completely unique branch of technology that offers with substances in a very small size between (1-100 nm) with various crystal shapes which include spherical nanoparticles, flower shaped, Nano rods, Nano ribbons, and Nano platelets. Metals have ability to produce large number of oxides. These metal oxides play an major role in many areas of chemistry, physics, material science and food science. In this research, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Copper (II) oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via sol-gel process using zinc nitrate and copper (II) nitrate as precursor respectively. The characterization of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles was done by using various techniques. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) indicates the crystallinity and crystal size of CuO and ZnO nanoparticle. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to get the infrared spectrum of the sample indicating composition of the sample which contains various functional groups. XRD result shows the particle size of CuO at highest peak 29.40140 was 61.25 nm and the particle size of ZnO at highest peak 36.24760 was 21.82 nm. FT-IR spectra peak at 594.56 cm-1 indicated characteristic absorption bands of ZnO nanoparticles and the broad band peak at 3506.9 cm-1 can be attributed to the characteristic absorption of O-H group. The analysis of FT-IR spectrum of CuO shows peaks at 602.09, 678.39, and 730.19cm−1 which refer to the formation of CuO. A broad absorption peak noticed at 3308.2 cm−1 attributed to O–H stretching of the moisture content.