Obtaining and studying the luminescent properties of zinc oxide synthesized in a stream of high-energy electrons

For the first time, zinc oxide samples were obtained by a method based on irradiation of nominally pure zinc with a stream of high-energy electrons with an energy of 1.4 MeV and a power density of 7 kW/cm2 in at- mospheric air. The morphology of the synthesized substance was studied by transmission electron and optical microscopy. Particles of ultrafine zinc oxide in the form of needles were found at a distance (1‒3) cm from the irradiation zone, with average lengths and diameters of 150 and 10 nm, respectively. Ultrafine samples are characterized by the presence of a hexagonal wurtzite structure. By optical microscopy, ZnO whisker micro- structures with a diameter of ~ 1 μm and a length of 50‒100 μm were detected in the irradiation zone. The photoluminescence spectrum of all samples is represented by one narrow exciton band with a maximum at λ = 380 nm and a decay time of τ ˂ 13 ns in the absence of other bands due to intrinsic and impurity defects, which indicates the high crystalline perfection of the synthesized crystals.