Characterization of ZnO nanowires grown on Si (100) with and without Au catalyst

ZnO nanowires were grown on Si (100) substrates with and without Au catalyst by chemical vapor deposition employing the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) and vapor-solid (VS) mechanisms, respectively. The diameters of the resulting nanowires were in the range 80-150 nm with typical length about 10 μm. The near-band-edge (NBE) emission of ZnO nanowires grown with and without catalyst was observed at 382 nm and 386 nm, respectively. The intensity of the NBE emission of ZnO nanowires grown without the catalyst was higher than that of the green luminescence. By sharp contrast, the intensity of the NBE emission of ZnO nanowires grown with catalyst was lower than that of green luminescence. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum of the ZnO nanowires grown without catalyst exhibited a peak intensity of c-plane 5 times higher than that of m-plane and 10 times higher than that of a-plane. However, the XRD spectrum of the ZnO nanowires grown with catalyst exhibited a peak intensity of the c-plane about 1.5 times higher than that of the m-plane and 4 times higher than that of a-plane intensity. Thus, the ZnO nanowires grown without catalyst have a preferential orientation along the c-axis direction. Our results show that the catalyst strongly effects optical and structural properties of the ZnO nanowires.     

Synthesis,characterization and growth mechanism of ZnO nanowires on NiCl<Subscript>2</Subscript>-coated Si substrates

Well-crystallized ZnO nanowires have been successfully synthesized on NiCl₂-coated Si substrates via a carbon thermal reduction deposition process. The pre-deposited Ni nanoparticles by dipping the substrates into NiCl₂ solution can promote the formation of ZnO nuclei. The as-synthesized nanowires were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The results demonstrate that the as-fabricated nanowires with about 60 nm in diameter and several tens of micrometers in length are preferentially arranged along [0001] direction with (0002) as the dominate surface. Room temperature PL spectrum illustrates that the ZnO nanowires exist a UV emission peak and a green emission peak, and the peak centers locate at 387 and 510 nm. Finally, the growth mechanism of the nanowires is briefly discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanowires for nanosensor applications

In this paper we report the synthesis of ZnO nanowires via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 650 °C. It will be shown that these nanowires are suitable for sensing applications. ZnO nanowires were grown with diameters ranging from 50 to 200 nm depending on the substrate position in a CVD synthesis reactor and the growth regimes. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy (RS) have been used to characterize the ZnO nanowires. To investigate the suitability of the CVD synthesized ZnO nanowires for gas sensing applications, a single ZnO nanowire device (50 nm in diameter) was fabricated using a focused ion beam (FIB). The response to H₂ of a gas nanosensor based on an individual ZnO nanowire is also reported.     

Photoluminescence and field-emission characteristics of ZnO nanowires synthesized by two-step method

ZnO nanowires with excellent photoluminescence (PL) and field-emission properties were synthesized by a two-step method, and the ZnO nanowires grew along (0 0 2) direction. PL measurements showed that the ZnO nanowires have stronger ultraviolet emission properties at 376 nm and there is 3 nm blue shift after the nanowires were immersed in thiourea (TU) solution compared with those of without immersion. The immersed-ZnO nanowires show a turn-on field of 2.3 V/μm at a current density of 0.1 μA/cm and emission current density up to 1 mA/cm² at an applied field of 6.8 V/μm, which demonstrate that the immersed-ZnO nanowires posses efficient field-emission properties in contrast with those not immersed. The ZnO nanowires may be ideal candidates for making luminescent devices and field-emission displays.     

Influence of seed layers on the vertical growth of ZnO nanowires

We synthesized vertically aligned ZnO nanowires on SiO₂ wafer <100> using the Au, ZnO and Au/ZnO seed layers through the physical vapor deposition process. The growth direction of ZnO nanowire was controlled by using the three different seed layers. From the XRD results, we observed the highest intensity of the (002) peak on the Au/ZnO seed layer among the three seed layers. The SEM images show that all of the ZnO nanowires have an average diameter of about 100 ~ 200 nm and a length of about 5 μm, and the nanowires grown on the Au/ZnO seed layer are oriented the most perpendicularly to the substrate surface. From the PL analysis, we observed that the intensity of broad emissions at 400-600 nm relating the green emission for the ZnO nanowires on the Au/ZnO seed layer was much weaker than that for the ZnO nanowires on the ZnO seed layer. The experiment results indicate that the selection of seed layers is important to grow nanowires vertically for the application of nanoscale devices.     

Temperature-dependent controlled preparation of ZnO nanostructures and their photoluminescence properties

High purity and yield of ZnO nanobelts, nanocombs and nanowires have been synthesized using a simple catalyst-free vapor transport process and their growth mechanism and photoluminescence properties have been investigated. Transmission electron microscopy and selected-area electron diffraction analyses reveal that the intrinsic growth behaviors of ZnO vary with the growth temperature, leading to the formation of nanostructures with different morphologies. These ZnO nanostructures show a UV emission at about 385 nm and a broad green emission around 500 nm in their photoluminescence spectra, and the green to UV emission intensity ratio is determined by their microstructures.     

The characteristics of ZnO deposited on PPC plastic substrate

In this paper, we report the deposition of ZnO thin film on poly propylene carbonate (PPC) plastic substrate by sputtering technique. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the ZnO thin film were investigated. The ZnO thin film deposited on PPC plastic has a smooth surface morphology as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement shows that the ZnO thin film has preferential orientation along the c-axis with strong peak observed at 2θ? = 34.25^o, while the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows strong UV emission peak at 385 nm. Spectrophotometry measurements reveal that transmission values of the film are low at wavelength shorter than 380 nm. Current-voltage measurements show that the dark- and photocurrents were found to be 6.11 and 89.3 μA, respectively, under dark and illuminated conditions at 5 V.     

Controlled growth of novel doorframe-like ITO nanostructures and their photoluminescence properties

This paper describes a thermal evaporation method that generated large-scale novel doorframe-like ITO nanostructures by regularly switching flow rate of the carried gas. Their morphology and microstructures were determined by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The as-synthesized doorframe-like nanostructures are single crystal with diameters ranging from hundreds of nm to about 1 μm. The growth direction of the doorframe-like nanostructures are < 100> and < 011> and the growth process follows a self-catalytic vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. The PL spectrum of the doorframe-like nanostructures shows two emission bands around 418 and 505 nm, which is probably resulted from oxygen vacancies, oxygen-indium vacancy pairs and impurity level, respectively.     

Optical and field emission characteristics of anodic aluminium oxide/ZnO hybrid nanostructure

Arrays of ZnO nanowires (NWs) were fabricated within the well-distributed pores of anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template by a simple chemical method. The photoluminescence (PL) and field emission (FE) properties of the AAO/ZnO NWs hybrid structure were investigated in detail. The hybrid nanostructure exhibits interesting PL characteristics. ZnO NWs exhibit UV emission at 378 nm and two prominent blue-green emissions at about 462 and 508 nm. Intense blue emission from the AAO template itself was observed at around 430 nm. Herein, for the first time we report the FE characteristics of the ZnO/AAO hybrid structure to show the influence of the AAO template on the FE property of the hybrid structure. It is found that the turn-on electric field of the vertically grown and aligned ZnO NWs within the pores of AAO template is lower than the entangled unaligned ZnO NWs extracted from the template. Although the AAO template exhibits no FE current but it helps to achieve better FE property of the ZnO NWs through better alignment. The turn-on electric field of aligned NWs was found to be 3 V μm⁻¹ at a current of 0.1 μA. Results indicate that the AAO embedded ZnO NW hybrid structure may find useful applications in luminescent and field emission display devices.     

Layer-structured ZnO nanowire arrays with dominant surface- and acceptor-related emissions

We report the growth of uncommon layer-structured ZnO nanowire arrays via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The morphology, microstructure, and photoluminescence (PL) of the nanowires are investigated. The nanowires grow along the [0001] direction, with periodic zig-zag edges formed by the {101?1}-type surfaces. The nanowires exhibit unique PL features. The PL spectra at low temperature are dominated by the surface exciton recombination at 3.366 eV and the controversial 3.32 eV emission. For the 3.32 eV emission, transformation from donor-acceptor pair recombination to free electron-to-acceptor transition is observed with increasing temperature. The stacking faults formed in the interface region between the layers are likely responsible for the strong emission around 3.32 eV.     

Synthesis of ZnO flowers and their photoluminescence properties

Flower-like ZnO nano/microstructures have been synthesized by thermal treatment of Zn(NH₃)₄²⁺ precursor in aqueous solvent, using ammonia as the structure directing agent. A number of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scan electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermal analysis, and photoluminescence (PL) were used to characterize the obtained ZnO structures. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements indicated that the as-synthesized ZnO structures showed UV (∼375 nm), blue (∼465 nm), and yellow (∼585 nm) emission bands when they were excited by a He-Gd laser using 320 nm as the excitation source. Furthermore, it has been interestingly found that the intensity of light emission at ∼585 nm remarkably decreased when the obtained ZnO nanocrystals were annealed at 600 °C for 3 h in air. The reason might be the possible oxygen vacancies and interstitials in the sample decreased at high temperature.     

Optical properties of ZnO nanowire arrays electrodeposited on n- and p-type Si(1 1 1): Effects of thermal annealing

Electrodeposition is a low temperature and low cost growth method of high quality nanostructured active materials for optoelectronic devices. We report the electrochemical preparation of ZnO nanorod/nanowire arrays on n-Si(1 1 1) and p-Si(1 1 1). The effects of thermal annealing and type of substrates on the optical properties of ZnO nanowires electroplated on silicon (1 1 1) substrate are reported. We fabricated ZnO nanowires/p-Si structure that exhibits a strong UV photoluminescence emission and a negligible visible emission. This UV photoluminescence emission proves to be strongly influenced by the thermal annealing at 150-800 °C. Photo-detectors have been fabricated based on the ZnO nanowires/p-Si heterojunction.     

Rapid synthesis of ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures in large scale and their photoluminescence properties

ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures with uniform ellipsoidal morphologies have been synthesized using different hydroxide anion precursors by an ultra-fast, facile (90 °C) solution-phase method without the assistance of sonication or any surfactants. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Based on the experimental results, a growth mechanism of ZnO nanostructures was proposed. The obtained ZnO nanostructures exhibit a weak UV emission band at ~ 385 nm and a relatively stronger orange emission band at ~ 615 nm. The solution-phase method is simple, convenient for large-scale fabrication of ZnO ellipsoidal nanostructures.     

Novel synthesis of aligned Zinc oxide nanorods on a glass substrate by sonicated sol-gel immersion

For the first time, aligned ZnO nanorod structured thin films have been synthesized on a glass substrate, which had been coated with an Al-doped ZnO thin film, using the sonicated sol-gel immersion method. These nanorods were found to have an average diameter of 100 nm and an average length of 500 nm, with hexagonal wurtzite phase grew preferentially along the c-axis direction. A sharp ultra-violet (UV) emission centred at 383 nm corresponding to the free exciton recombination was observed in a room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The prepared ZnO nanorod structured thin film is transparent in the visible region with an average transmittance of 78% in the 400-800 nm wavelength range and high absorbance properties in the UV region (< 400 nm). The results indicate that the prepared ZnO nanorods are suitable for ultra-violet photoconductive sensor applications.     

Influence of Sb as a catalyst in the growth of ZnO nano wires and nano sheets using Nanoparticle Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition (NAPLD)

The methodology on the synthesis of Sb-doped ZnO nanostructures by considering dopant as a catalyst is proposed and demonstrated. The nanostructures were synthesized using intrinsic ZnO as target and Sb-coated Si as substrate, where Sb simultaneously acts as dopant and the catalyst. The catalyst Sb is highly sensitive to temperature conditions resulted in two different nanostructures, the nanowires and the nanosheets. The surface, structural and optical characteristics of the nanowires and the nanosheets are comparatively investigated through SEM, EDX, XRD, Raman spectroscopy and photo luminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The nanowires showed a strong green emission in the PL spectrum and the presence of oxygen vacancies is confirmed thorough Raman peak shift at 556 cm⁻¹. In the case of nanosheets, the defect in oxygen vacancies is completely reduced, and improved UV emission is observed, which confirms the diffusion of Sb in the ZnO lattice.     

Effects of low-energy hydrogen ion implantation on optical properties of ZnO nanowires

The low-energy hydrogen ions (2 keV; 1 × 10¹⁵ to 1 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻² per dose) implantation was used to study the passivation effect of defects and photoluminescence properties of ZnO nanowires. The implanted H⁺ effectively passivated deep level native defects, making the visible emission at 500 nm disappear completely and the UV emission (380 nm) of nanowires enhance for seven times. H⁺ implantation at higher dose induced a strongly new violet emission broad peak (around 410 nm) which may originate from the hydrogen related complex of defects. However, this violet emission disappeared after annealing in argon atmosphere at 300 °C, confirming that the new violet emission is related to hydrogen. All emission peaks vanished due to the formation of a large quantity of nonradiative recombination centers at high dose implantation. This controllable method of hydrogen doping may find potential application in UV/violet optoelectronic and especially in nano-optoelectronic devices.     

Optical properties of Mn-doped ZnS semiconductor nanoclusters synthesized by a hydrothermal process

Undoped and Mn-doped ZnS nanoclusters have been synthesized by a hydrothermal approach. Various samples of the ZnS:Mn with 0.5, 1, 3, 10 and 20 at.% Mn dopant have been prepared and characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray, high resolution electron microscopy, UV-vis diffusion reflection, photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) measurements. All the prepared ZnS nanoclusters possess cubic sphalerite crystal structure with lattice constant a = 5.408 ± 0.011 ?. The PL spectra of Mn-doped ZnS nanoclusters at room temperature exhibit both the 495 nm blue defect-related emission and the 587 nm orange Mn²⁺ emission. Furthermore, the blue emission is dominant at low temperatures; meanwhile the orange emission is dominant at room temperature. The Mn²⁺ ion-related PL can be excited both at energies near the band-edge of ZnS host (the UV region) and at energies corresponding to the Mn²⁺ ion own excited states (the visible region). An energy schema for the Mn-doped ZnS nanoclusters is proposed to interpret the photoluminescence behaviour.     

Defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism in well-aligned ZnO nanorods grown on Si (100) substrate

In this work, we report the fabrication of high quality single-crystalline ZnO nanorod arrays which were grown on the silicon (Si) substrate using a microwave assisted solution method. The as grown nanorods were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), photo-luminescence (PL) and magnetization measurements. The XRD results indicated that the ZnO nanorods are well oriented with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate and have single phase nature with the wurtzite structure. FE-SEM results showed that the length and diameter of the well aligned rods is about ~ 1 μm and ~ 100 nm respectively, having aspect ratio of 20-30. Room-temperature PL spectrum of the as-grown ZnO nanorods reveals a near-band-edge (NBE) emission peak and defect induced green light emission. The green light emission band at ~ 583 nm might be attributed to surface oxygen vacancies or defects. Magnetization measurements show that the ZnO nanorods exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism which may result due to the presence of defects in the ZnO nanorods.     

Preparation of high purity ZnO nanobelts by thermal evaporation of ZnS

High purity one-dimensional ZnO nanobelts were synthesized by thermally evaporating commercial ZnS powders in a hydrogen-oxygen mixture gas at 1050 degrees C. It was found that these ZnO nanobelts had a single crystal hexagonal wurtzite structure growing along the [0001] direction. They had a rectangle-shaped cross-section with typical widths of 20 to 100 nanometers and lengths of up to hundreds of micrometers with lattice constants of a = 0.325 nm and c = 0.520 nm. The self-catalytic hydrogen-oxygen assisted growth of ZnO nanobelt is discussed. The photoluminescence (PL) characterization of the ZnO nanobelts shows strong near-band UV emission (about 383 nm) and one broad peak at 501 nm, which indicates that the ZnO nanobelts have good potential application in optoelectronic devices.     

Synthesis of AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite with visible light-driven photocatalytic activity

AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized via chemical precipitation from pure ZnO nanowires, AgNO₃, and NaBr. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy results confirmed the forming of AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite. High resolution transmission electron microscopy results of the as-synthesized AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite revealed that AgBr nanoparticles were attached to the surface of ZnO nanowires. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of both pure ZnO and AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite displayed a band gap edge at about 350-380 nm. However, compared with pure ZnO, an additional broad tail from approximately 400 nm to 700 nm appeared in the UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum of AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite. The photocatalytic studies indicated that the as-synthesized AgBr/ZnO nanocomposite was a kind of promising photocatalyst in remediation of water polluted by some chemically stable azo dyes under visible light.