Ultraviolet luminescence of ZnO infiltrated into an opal matrix

Technology for the infiltration of zinc oxide into a three-dimensional opal lattice using chemical deposition from a solution was developed. Samples of ZnO-opal composites, whose luminescence at room temperature mainly occurs in the ultraviolet spectral range, were obtained. The filling ratio was monitored by two different techniques: (i) checking the increase in the mass of the sample and (ii) checking the shift of the peak in the optical reflection spectrum of samples filled with ZnO in comparison with the initial opal matrices. The results obtained by these two methods are consistent with each other. Optimum conditions for synthesizing ZnO-filled opals in order to attain the highest intensity of ultraviolet luminescence were determined. It was shown that using “raw” opals, whose voids are incompletely filled with the semiconductor material, leads to a severalfold increase in the intensity of the edge excitonic emission band at room temperature. The results obtained can be used in the development of efficient directed laser light sources in the ultraviolet spectral range based on the “photonic crystal” effect.