Fabrication and photoluminescence of ZnO hierarchical nanostructures containing Bi2O3

ZnO hierarchical nanostructures containing Bi2O3 have been prepared using Zn-Bi droplets. Transmission electron microscopy analyses indicate that some beta-Bi2O3 nanoparticles (2-3 nm) are embedded inside hexagonal ZnO hierarchical nanostructures. It turns out that the morphologies are sensitive to temperature. The photoluminescence spectrum at 10 K shows a sharp free exciton line at 3.374 eV, which implies that the nanostructures are of high optical quality. The blue shift of green emission centred at 492 nm (2.515 eV), which can be attributed to the emission from Bi3+, is also observed.