Morphology and optical properties of ternary Zn-Sn-O semiconductor nanowires with catalyst-free growth

This study reports the synthesis of Zn2SnO4 (ZTO) nanowires with various morphologies using thermal evaporation without a metal catalyst. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the structure of the as-synthesized ZTO nanowires is a face-centered cubic spinel phase. Scanning electron microscopy images exhibit that the as-synthesized nanowires have various morphologies, and homogeneously cover the area of interest. High-resolution transmittance electron microscopy reveals that these ZTO nanowires have single crystalline microstructures with four morphologies. The results of low-temperature cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements show the crystal defects of oxygen vacancies and interstitials may contribute to blue-green and yellow-orange emissions, respectively, for the as-synthesized single nanowire. This study also discusses the effects of thermal annealing under oxygen-rich and reducing ambient on the CL properties of the single ZTO nanowire. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.