Field induced reversible control of visible luminescence in ZnO nanostructures

TL;DR

This study demonstrates reversible control of visible luminescence in ZnO nanostructures using a low voltage solid electrolyte, enabling enhancement or quenching of emission with potential applications in optoelectronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a simple method to reversibly modulate ZnO luminescence via electric bias using a solid electrolyte, with detailed analysis of the underlying band bending effects.

Findings

Up to 107% enhancement in visible luminescence with negative bias.

87% quenching of visible emission with positive bias.

Ultraviolet near band edge emission remains unaffected.

Abstract

In this work, a reversible control over the visible luminescence of phosphor ZnO is achieved by the application of a few volts (<5V) to nanostructured ZnO film sandwiched between ITO and LiClO4/PEO solid electrolyte. Since ZnO is a good absorbing material but ITO-Glass substrate is transparent in the range of 320-375 nm, the ZnO-ITO interface has been illuminated by a 345 nm light passing through the ITO glass substrate and the emitted light near 545 nm has been collected in reflection mode. When the solid polymer electrolyte is negatively biased, up to 107 percent enhancement in the visible luminescence has been observed, whereas a complete quenching (87 percent reduction) of the visible emission has been seen when it is positively biased. The sharp near band edge (NBE) emission in the ultraviolet region however has no dependence within the voltage range we are working. The luminescence output follows variations in the applied voltage up to maximum frequency limited by response time of the device which lies within the range of 20-30 sec. The upward band bending created by application of negative bias to the conductive polymer populates increasing number of defect levels above the Fermi level which enhances the visible photoluminescence and vice versa.