ZnO:Er(III) Nanosystems Analyzed by XPS

ZnO:Er(III) nanosystems were synthesized by a combined rf-sputtering/sol-gel (SG) approach. In particular, the adopted route consists in the rf-sputtering of erbium (guest) onto as-prepared zinc oxide xerogels (host) obtained via sol-gel, followed by ex-situ heat treatments in air (300-600 °C, 1-5 h). The obtained samples were analyzed by glancing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), for a detailed investigation of their microstructure, surface morphology and chemical composition. The present work focuses on the XPS analysis of a selected ZnO:Er specimen, annealed at 400 °C for 5 h. Besides the wide scan spectrum, detailed spectra for the Zn 2p3/2, Zn 3p, Er 4d, O ls and C 1s regions and related data are presented and discussed.