Excitation energy dependence of electron–phonon interaction in ZnO nanoparticles

Raman spectroscopic investigations are carried out on ZnO nanoparticles for various photon energies. Intensities of E 1 – LO and E 2 modes exhibit large changes as the excitation energy varied from 2.41 to 3.815 eV, signifying substantially large contribution of Frohlich interaction to the Raman polarizability as compared to deformation potential close to the resonance. Relative strength of these two mechanisms is estimated for the first time in nanoparticles and compared with those in the bulk.