Hugely enhanced electroluminescence from mesoporous ZnO particles

Using octadecylamine (ODA) and dodecylamine (DDA) as template, nanostructured porous ZnO particles were synthesized by sol-gel method. The results of experiments show that the density of ZnO processed with ODA, DDA and without template is 5.31, 5.37 and 5.42 cm²/g respectively. The surface analysis proves that the ZnO particles processed with ODA and DDA hold porous structure. Hugely enhanced electroluminescence (EL) was observed from the porous ZnO particles under direct current electric field from 2-4.66 V/μm. Comparing with the low emission intensity of the ZnO without porous structure, the emission intensity of the ZnO sample processed with DDA and DDA were enhanced 12 times and 20 times respectively at the voltage of 4.66 V/μm. The EL spectrum shows mainly broad peak emission feature with a peak at 556 nm. The threshold voltage is just 2 V/μm. The results indicate that the porous structure in ZnO particles can enhance EL intensity.