A simple and facile route to oriented Bi2Al4O9 nanowire arrays and their photoluminescence properties

Abstract

A new route based on the developed “MID” method is presented for the synthesis of oriented mullite-type Bi2Al4O9 nanowire arrays. The fabrication process is simple and facile, which only utilizes bismuth nitrate as the starting material and exploits a porous anodic aluminum oxide membrane as a reactive template. The obtained sample was carefully characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, respectively and the results indicate that it’s well-crystalized and display oriented nanowire morphology. A possible mechanism based on the Kirkendall effect was also discussed for the formation of the well-aligned nanowire arrays. Room temperature photoluminescence measurement of the nanowires exhibits a broad emission band centered at about 500 nm, 550 nm and 660 nm. Such supported and well-allied Bi2Al4O9 nanowire arrays may have advantages in future applications.