Abstract:
The aim of the study was to determine how the temperature and gaseous environ
ment of annealing affect the morphological and luminescent properties of nano
structured zinc oxide (Zn) -based materials. The study was carried out in Ukraine
at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic In
stitute”. The methodology included chemical deposition from aqueous solutions
followed by thermal annealing at 300, 500, and 700 °C in air, nitrogen, and argon.
The morphology was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the crys
tal structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the luminescence spectra by photo
luminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The results showed an increase in particle size
with increasing temperature, regardless of the atmosphere, with a minimum (~45
nm) at 300 °C in argon and a maximum (~112 nm) at 700 °C in air. With increasing
temperature, the coverage density decreased, especially under inert conditions,
due to nanoparticle aggregation. Correlation analysis showed a strong negative
relationship between particle size and emission intensity (r=-0.89) and a positive
correlation between coverage density and PL brightness (r=0.76). Thus, it was
established that high-temperature annealing in an oxygen atmosphere most ef
fectively improves the luminescent characteristics of ZnO for optoelectronic and
sensor applications. The results are of practical significance for the development
of high-efficiency optoelectronic and sensing devices.
