Observation of excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence from ZnO nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous silica

Abstract

his manuscript reports on the excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous silica (MS) matrix. FT-IR spectra of MS and ZnO/MS nanocomposite confirmed the unaltered structure of MS with ZnO loading. The successful encapsulation of ZnO nanoparticles in MS matrix was evidenced by HR-TEM. The PL of ZnO/MS was red shifted from 395 nm to 504 nm only by changing the excitation wavelength. This kind of unusual behavior is termed as red edge effect (REE).