Fabrication of novel red light emitting PVA/ZnO: Eu3+ electrospun composite nanofibers

Abstract

Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)/ZnO: Eu³⁺ composite nanofibers (NFs) have been successfully prepared by Electrospinning technique. The crystal structure, surface morphology, distribution of elements and photoluminescence properties of composite NFs were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy respectively. XRD pattern confirmed the successful incorporation of ZnO: Eu³⁺ nanophosphors into the PVA matrix whereas EDX demonstrated the homogeneous distribution of elements. The bonding characteristics of composite NFs were analyzed by FTIR. The composite NFs exhibited red emission peak at 635 nm under the excitation wavelength of 266 nm. Tunability in colors from blue to red is observed for the composite NFs. Excellent values of color coordinates of the PVA/ZnO: Eu³⁺ composite NFs make them fascinating for illuminating the solid state lighting (SSL) world.