Journal
NANO LETTERS
Volume 16, Issue 8, Pages 5204-5212Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b02230
Keywords
Zn1-xCoxO nanoparticles; phase transition; absorption; metastability
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad
- FEDER [MAT2015-69508-P, MAT2012-38664-C02-01/02, CSD2007-00045]
- U.S. National Science Foundation [CHE-1213283]
- Generalitat Valenciana [PROMETEO/2009/074]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Chemistry [1213283] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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This paper investigates the electronic structure of wurtzite (W) and rock-salt (RS) Zn1-xCoxO nanoparticles (NPs) by means of optical measurements under pressure (up to 25 GPa), X-ray absorption, and transmission electron microscopy. W-NPs were chemically synthesized at ambient conditions and RS-NPs were obtained by pressure-induced transformation of W-NPs. In contrast to the abrupt phase transition in W Zn1-xCoxO as thin film or single crystal, occurring sharply at about 9 GPa, spectroscopic signatures of tetrahedral Co2+ are observed in NPs from ambient pressure to about 17 GPa. Above this pressure, several changes in the absorption spectrum reveal a gradual and irreversible W-to-RS phase transition: (i) the fundamental band-to-band edge shifts to higher photon energies; (ii) the charge-transfer absorption band virtually disappears (or overlaps the fundamental edge); and (iii) the intensity of the crystal-field absorption peaks of Co2+ around 2 eV decreases by an order of magnitude and shifts to 2.5 eV. After incomplete phase transition pressure cycles, the absorption edge of nontransformed W-NPs at ambient pressure exhibits a blue shift of 0.22 eV. This extra shift is interpreted in terms of quantum confinement effects. The observed gradual phase transition and metastability are related to the NP size distribution: the larger the NP, the lower the W-to-RS transition pressure.
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