Band Gap Modulation in Zn2TiO4 Spinels for Efficient UV-A Persistent Luminescence

Spinels are important materials for an application in bioimaging. The key advantage with spinel-type hosts is the presence of antisite defects, which act as charge reservoirs for trapping electrons and holes at complementary defect sites. This makes them a host system similar to a molecular system. Herein, we present a systematic approach to modulating the band gap of an inverse Zn2TiO4 spinel. With a change in ZnO concentration, the absorption band at 375 nm diminishes and disappears at a ZnO:TiO2 concentration of 1.40:1.00. The band gap of the material is modified from 3.30 to 4.40 eV. The crystal structure of the sample does not change drastically as determined using X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement. The Zn2TiO4 emits in the UV-A region with a lifetime in the time domain of ‘ns’. The sample also shows persistent luminescence of at least 15 min upon excitation with 254 nm with prominent emission in the UV-A region (300–390 nm). The present results open a new avenue for the synthesis of spinel hosts where the band gap can be modified with ease. The UV emission thus observed is expected to find usage in interesting applications like photocatalysis, anti-counterfeiting, water disinfecting, etc.