Quenching And Blue Shift Of Uv Emission Intensity Of Hydrothermally Grown Zno:Mn Nanorods

ZnO:Mn alloyed nanorods (Mn nominal concentration - 3-5 wt%) were synthesized by using hydrothermal process at an optimized growth temperature of 200 degrees C and a growth time of 3 h. The XRD, SEM and Raman, FTIR investigations reveal that ZnO:Mn (Mn - 3-5 wt%) retained hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with nanorod morphology. The HRTEM and SAED analysis confirm the single crystalline nature of hydrothermally grown ZnO and ZnO:Mn (5 wt%) nanorods. The ZnO:Mn nanorods (Mn - 0-5 wt%) displayed optical band gap in the range 3.23-3.28 eV. The blue shift of UV emission peak (PL) from 393 (ZnO) to 386nm and quenching of photoluminescence emission in ZnO:Mn is due to the Mn incorporation in ZnO lattice. Relative increase in intensity of Raman band at 660 cm(-1) with nominal doping of Mn 3-5 wt% in ZnO indicate that defects are introduced in ZnO:Mn system as a result of doping that leads to the quenching of photoluminescence emission at 393 nm. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.