Nanostructured Y‐doped ZrO2 powder: peculiarities of light emission under electron beam excitation. Issue 9 (29th April 2014) - Korsunska, N.
Abstract Present work deals with the study of luminescence and structural properties of Y‐doped ZrO2 nanopowders sintered by co‐precipitation of Zr and Y nitrates. The structural and light emitting properties were controlled by X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering, photo‐ (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) methods. Generally, room temperature PL spectra showed several bands in UV‐orange range, whose shapes depend on the excitation light wavelength. Along with this, CL spectra demonstrate additional "red" emission, which intensity exceeds that of other CL bands. At lower temperatures, preferable enhancement of "red" CL band, its narrowing and peak position shift to the longer wavelengths were found. This behavior testifies to the non‐elementary nature of "red" CL band. Its nature and mechanism of its excitation are discussed. It is supposed that some impurities (such as Fe and/or Zn) or complex defects, containing oxygen vacancies and these impurities, are responsible for "red" emission appeared under electron beam excitation only. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)