Influence of atmosphere on photoluminescence properties of Eu-doped ZnO nanocrystals

We have fabricated Eu³⁺-doped ZnO (ZnO:Eu) nanocrystals (NCs) by a reverse micelle method, and have studied their photoluminescence (PL) properties in vacuum, nitrogen gas, and oxygen gas atmospheres. The ZnO:Eu NCs exhibit the exciton, defect and Eu³⁺ PL under the inter-band photoexcitation of the ZnO host NCs. The intensity ratio among the three PL peaks is sensitive to the atmosphere for the PL measurements. We discuss the influence of the surrounding gas atmosphere to the PL properties.