Low-Temperature and Short-Time Preparation of Granular/Short Rod-Like Zn2geo4:Mn2+ Luminescent Nanoparticles

Abstract

Zinc germanate (Zn2GeO4) is a typical n-type semiconductor with numerous advantages that make it an excellent matrix for luminescent materials. The transition metal manganese (Mn) has multiple oxidation states, which makes it an excellent luminescent ion center. Here we present a facile low-temperature and short-time preparation of Zn2GeO4:Mn2+ (ZGOM) nanoparticles. The nanoparticles have regular shape, short rod-like structures or even granular structures, uniform size and ideal luminescence properties. The phase structure and microstructure of ZGOM were characterized by XRD, XPS and SEM, and its fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet absorption (UV-vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were collected and analyzed to further characterize the luminescence properties of the products. In addition, the growth mechanism and luminescence mechanism of the prepared ZGOM were discussed in detail, and exploring the application prospects in the latent fingerprint information manifestation.

Keywords: Zn2GeO4 (ZGO), low-temperature synthesis, ion doping, luminescence