Abstract
Balloon whisk-like and flower-like SiOx tubes with well-dispersed Sn and joining countless SiOx loops together induce intense luminescence characteristics in substrate materials. Our synthetic technique called “direct substrate growth” is based on pre-contamination of the surroundings without the intended catalyst and source powders. The kind of supporting material and pressure of the inlet gases determine a series of differently functionalized tube loops, i.e., the number, length, thickness, and cylindrical profile. SiOx tube loops commonly twist and split to best suppress the total energy. Photoluminescence and confocal laser measurements based on quantum confinement effect of the embedded Sn nanoparticles in the SiOx tube found substantially intense emissions throughout the visible range. These new concepts related to the synthetic approach, pre-pollution, transitional morphology, and permeable nanoparticles should facilitate progress in nanoscience with regard to tuning the dimensions of micro-/nanostructure preparations and the functionalization of customized applications.
Highlights
The unique controlled morphology and wide optical emission properties of low-dimensional semiconductors make them one of the most sophisticated core technologies in optoelectronics[1], photonics[2,3], and plasmonics[4,5]
We present a solution to the above problems, namely, well-designed twisted micro-/nanotube morphology via a physical reaction basis and a luminescent origin through the embedment of metal instead of c-Si NCs
Tubular flower-like SiOx embedded with Sn nanoparticles (~5 nm in size) was synthesized for the first time by using a Si substrate with assistance from In2O3 and graphite powders in pre-deposited SnO2 thin films
Summary
The unique controlled morphology and wide optical emission properties of low-dimensional (in particular 0D and 1D) semiconductors make them one of the most sophisticated core technologies in optoelectronics[1], photonics[2,3], and plasmonics[4,5]. The significance of fullerenes[6] has inspired much systematic curiosity in many artificial periodic patterns such as strings of beads[7], chains[8], and bamboo-like tubes[9] in nanostructures These morphological peculiarities were accomplished by the following specific synthetic manipulations: metal particle migration induced by annealing[7], stress induced by new carbon layer formation[10], the periodic instability of catalyst particles[11,12], and metal atom evaporation[8]. We present a solution to the above problems, namely, well-designed twisted micro-/nanotube morphology via a physical reaction basis and a luminescent origin through the embedment of metal instead of c-Si NCs. Our synthetic route, which we call direct substrate growth (DSG), is novel in that it is a one-step process that requires no direct source, catalyst, and post-treatment. Our original concept is that the main factors that influence the final morphological and optical properties depend mostly on the selections of the pre-contaminated concentration and embedded nanoparticle size
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