Photoluminescent properties of the Ba1-xZnxMoO4 heterostructure obtained by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

In this study, Ba1-xZnxMoO4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) microspheres were the first time described in the literature the by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. Powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM-FEG) and UV visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies. The XRD patterns showed that the samples with x = 0 and x = 1 displayed pure tetragonal and triclinic structures, respectively. On the other hand, samples with x = 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 revealed the formation of tetragonal/triclinic heterojunction structure. The SEM-FEG images showed that the Ba1-xZnxMoO4 particles present the spherical morphology with the decrease of particle sizes when the value of x increase. The gap energies vary between 4.56 eV and 4.17 eV, being influenced by the degree of structural order-disorder. The PL emission spectra of the samples showed a broad band behavior with emission intensity predominant in the orange-red region and of a lower intensity in the blue-green region. The chromaticity coordinates x and y showed that the samples with x 5 0.75 present emission in orange, while the samples with x = 1 showed emission in white.