Morphological, structural and luminescent characterization of Nd-doped ZnO nano- and microstructures grown by vapor-solid method

This work focuses on synthesizing neodymium-doped ZnO nano- and microstructures using the vapor-solid method. The efficiency of Nd incorporation into the ZnO lattice has been analyzed. The characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), cathodoluminescence (CL), mu-photoluminescence (mu-PL) and Raman Spectroscopy (RS). The formation of the solid solution corresponding to a hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO was observed for the samples doped with 1% and 5% wt. Additional phases related to neodymium oxides were also detected in the samples doped with 10% wt. The incorporation of Nd in the Zn lattice has been monitored by means of EDS, CL and XRD. The main changes observed are the increase of the lattice parameter as the Nd content increases, the changes in the morphology of micro- and nanostructures, and the influence on the luminescent properties with higher intensity of Nd intraionic lines.