The role of defect charge, crystal chemistry, and crystal structure on positron lifetimes of vacancies in oxides

Density functional theory based positron lifetime (PL) calculations for cation and oxygen monovacancies in a range of oxides-hematite, magnetite, hercynite, and alumina-have been conducted to compare the impact of defect chemistry and crystal structure on the predicted lifetimes. The role of defect charge state has also been examined. A comparison across the same type of crystalline structure but different composition shows that oxygen vacancies only induce a slight increase in the positron-electron overlap and thus barely modify the PL as compared to the bulk. A much more substantial increase of PL is observed for cation monovacancies, regardless of crystal structure or the elemental nature of the vacancy, which we ascribe to an enhanced localization of charge density around the vacant site. The structural and compositional richness of the oxide leads to longer defect PLs, with defected hercynite exhibiting the longest PLs. The charge state of cation monovacancies modifies only by a small percentage the positron localization, relegating to secondary importance the metal defect's oxidation state in modifying the lifetime of positrons within vacancy traps.

Depth resolved defect characterization of energetic ion irradiated ZnO by positron annihilation techniques and photoluminescence

Depth resolved positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) has been employed to characterize the 1.2 MeV Ar and 800 keV O ion beam induced defects in ZnO. The first extraordinary result was the observation of defects in ion beam irradiated ZnO beyond the maximum penetration depth of the respective ions. The positron annihilation results revealed the formation of vacancy clusters consisting of both V_Zn and V_O in ZnO which are saturated at a threshold radiation dose (defined as nuclear energy loss, S_n  ×  fluence). From the photoluminescence (PL) spectra it has been observed that the PL intensity at the band edge degraded with the increase of open volume defects in ZnO. The evolution of the 2.4 eV PL, which is linked with the oxygen vacancies, is more significant due to Ar irradiation than the oxygen irradiation.

Role of Zn-interstitial defect states on d0 ferromagnetism of mechanically milled ZnO nanoparticles

An impurity defect level formed by interstitial zinc at the surfaces of undoped ZnO nanoparticles plays a crucial role for d0 ferromagnetism.