Comparison of ZrO2:Y Nanocrystals and Macroscopic Single Crystal Luminescence

Krisjanis Smits, Donats Millers, Larisa Grigorjeva, Janusz D. Fidelus, Witold Lojkowski

Abstract. The luminescence spectra of a tetragonally structured ZrO2:Y single crystal and
nanocrystals were compared. It was found that the number of luminescence centers contributed
to the spectra. The excitation of luminescence within the band gap region led to different
luminescence spectra for the single crystal and nanocrystal samples, whereas recombinative
luminescence spectra were the same for both samples. The origin of this difference is that in
the nanocrystals, even under excitation within the band gap, charge carriers were created.
Zirconium- oxygen complexes distorted by intrinsic defects were proposed to be the
luminescence centres responsible for the wide luminescence band observed.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 93 (2007) 012035

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/93/1/012035

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