Optical properties of silver nanoparticles with zinc oxide hybrid nanostructure produced by electric current heating process

Shun-Yuan Hou^1*, Shao-Chin Tseng², Chih-Hao Lee¹, Mau-Tsu Tang^1,2

¹Program of Science and Technology of Synchrotron Light Source, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
²National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan

* Presenter:Shun-Yuan Hou, email:ks8531785317@gmail.com

The optical properties of noble metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures have been intensively studied in recent years. Because of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, this kind of materials, when under irradiation, can strongly trap the electric field and exhibit special emission performance. One of the popular topics is to investigate the luminescence of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods attached by noble metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this study we design a novel process to form Ag NPs onto ZnO nanostructure by electric current heating. The Ag NPs were uniformly de-wetted onto the ZnO nanopillars after 1-2 minutes electrifying. The photoluminescence (PL) measurement confirmed the greatly optical enhancement in emission at the near band edge (2.32-folds) and the defect band (1.1-folds). Moreover, by reflectance spectrum (300-1000 nm) we conclude that the PL enhancement is related to the LSPR bands absorption of Ag NPs. Material characterization by X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be also presented.

Keywords: localized surface plasmon resonance, X-ray excited optical luminescence, Ag nanoparticles, ZnO nanorod