Giant enhanced infrared and orange emissions of ZnO nanoparticles induced by rich oxygen atmosphere

We prepared ZnO nanoparticles by calcining the mesoporous precursors, which were prepared by a sol–gel method using Octadcylamine (ODA) and Pluronic F-127 (F-127) as template reagents, respectively. The diameters of the ZnO precursor and nanoparticle were about 10 nm and 60 nm. The electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the ZnO nanoparticles annealed in air showed 740 nm infrared and 590 nm orange emissions, respectively. It is shown that under certain annealing temperature and time, the giant enhancement of infrared and orange EL emissions of the ZnO nanoparticles can be induced by rich oxygen atmosphere.