Influence of V2O5 and B2O3 addition on the sintering behaviour and physical properties of ZnO ceramics

The effect of V2O5 and B2O3 additions on sintering behaviour and physical properties of ZnO ceramics was investigated. XRD studies revealed ZnO as main phase with a hexagonal wurtzite-type structure. The V2O5 addition is the reason for an increase in grain size and some grains of oblong shape morphology in the ZnO ceramics. The dual addition of V2O5-B2O3 improved the liquid-assisted sintering of ZnO ceramics and resulted in further increase in grain size with more uniform grain growth. The reduction of sintering temperature to 900°C for ZnO ceramics was observed with the dual addition of V2O5 and B2O3. The room temperature PL spectra of the Z (ZnO), ZV (ZnO with 0.5mol% V2O5) and ZVB (ZnO with 0.5mol% V2O5 and 0.5mol% B2O3) ceramics revealed broad visible emission band because of impurities and defects in ZnO ceramics caused by oxygen vacancies due to vanadium and boron additions, as well as zinc interstitials. This emission band between 450-750 nm includes the entire visible region from blue to red.