X-ray luminescence of ZnO tetrapods grown in the presence of Cu and Au impurities in the initial charge

The morphology and luminescent properties of ZnO tetrapod powders with Cu and Au impurities obtained by pyrolytic carbothermal synthesis were studied. The X-ray luminescence spectrum of the samples is dominated by a broad band in the range from 450 to 650 nm. A weak band-edge luminescence band with a maximum at 391 nm is also registered. Measurements of the decay kinetics showed the presence of both fast ($\sim$1 ns) and slow ($\sim$850 ns) luminescence components, where the fast one generally did not exceed 1% of the integrated intensity. It is shown that with the used doping method, the incorporation of Cu and Au impurities into the ZnO lattice does not occur. In this case, the presence of Cu with a concentration of up to 9% does not affect the morphology and luminescent properties of tetrapods, while Au has an effect even at a concentration close to 1%.