Issue 29, 2011

Self-enhancement in ultraviolet luminescence from a metal–phosphor core–shell nanotube

Abstract

A system composed of a metal core and a phosphor shell—a hierarchical Zn/ZnO concentric nanotube—was investigated in this study for optical properties. The system was found to show a great enhancement in the emission efficiency of ZnO in a wide—but especially in the ultraviolet (UV)—spectral region. This enhancement is attributed to efficient coupling between photons from the ZnO phosphor and surface plasmons (SPs) from the very thin Zn tubule. Its decoupling is facilitated by the unique structure and morphology of the system. Remarkably, Zn—known as a lossy metal—still can successfully multiply the luminescence yield of a phosphor, comparable to noble metals. The SP resonance energy of Zn in the system matches even better for the excitonic emission of ZnO. The nanotubes are synthesized by a simple and low-cost vaporization method. Moreover, they require no additional coating with precious metals for the high yield in luminescence while the Zn tubule is quite stable encapsulated by ZnO. Our results demonstrate that an effective conductor-dielectric geometry makes it possible not only to tune the SP resonance energy but also to increase the degree of coupling.

Graphical abstract: Self-enhancement in ultraviolet luminescence from a metal–phosphor core–shell nanotube

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Mar 2011
Accepted
17 May 2011
First published
22 Jun 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 10785-10791

Self-enhancement in ultraviolet luminescence from a metal–phosphor core–shell nanotube

H. Kim, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 10785 DOI: 10.1039/C1JM11360G

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