Mg 2+-doped GaN nanoparticles as blue-light emitters: a method to avoid sintering at high temperatures
Venkataramanan Mahalingam1, Vasanthakumaran Sudarsan, Prabhakaran Munusamy
1Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3065, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3V6, Canada.
Abstract:
Bright blue-light emission at 410 nm is observed from Mg(2+)-doped GaN nanoparticles prepared by the nitridation of Ga(2)MgO(4) nanoparticles at 950 degrees C. The sintering of these nanoparticles during high-temperature nitridation was prevented by mixing the Ga(2)MgO(4) precursor nanoparticles with La(2)O(3) as an inert matrix before the nitridation process. The Mg(2+)-doped GaN nanoparticles were isolated from the matrix by etching with 10 % nitric acid. The Mg(2+)-doped GaN nanoparticles were characterized by photoluminescence, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and IR analyses.
