Optical properties of ZnO/silica nanocomposites prepared by sol-gel method and deposited by dip-coating technique

ZnO/silica nanocomposites films were prepared by sol-gel method and deposited by dip- coating technique. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed the inclusion of ZnO crystallites in silica thin films. The presence of excitonic peaks in optical absorption spectrum confirms the introduction of ZnO crystallites in silica matrix. The photoluminescence spectrum of studied nanocomposite shows a large luminescence (from 1.8 eV to 3.2 eV). This broad luminescence can be considered as a superposition of 4 bands centered on 2.93, 2.57, 2.22 and 2.03 eV. This result shows that the elaborated samples can be used for different technological applications.