Synthesis, optical and field emission properties of three different ZnO nanostructures

Three different ZnO nanostructures: nanocherries, nanomultipeds and nanospindles were successfully synthesized by thermal evaporation method under different experimental conditions. The X-ray diffraction peaks indicate that these ZnO nanostructures prefer to grow along the c-axis. Photolummescence (PL) spectra show that they are partially related to morphologies. Comparing the field emission (FE) measurements of the three ZnO nanostructures, we found that the nanocherries structure has the lowest turn-on and threshold field, 2.31 V/mu m and 5.83 V/mu m, respectively, for nanospindles and nanomultipeds structures, they are 2.82 V/mu m and 6.57 V/mu m, 3.13 V/mu m and 7.35 V/mu m, revealing that the nanocherries structure may be one of the promising candidates for field emission displays. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.