Individual dual-emitting CdS multi-branched nanowire arrays under various pumping powers

Abstract

High-quality Tin doped Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) comb-like nanostructures have been synthesized by a simple in situ seeding chemical vapor deposition process. The color-tunable dual emission of these comb-like nanostructures is demonstrated by changing the excitation power intensity. In fact, the color-tunable emission is in principal due to the variation of the dual emission intensity, which is proven by photoluminescence spectra and real color photoluminescence charge-coupled device images. Especially for different parts in the nano comb, the emission color can be varied even under the same pumping power. This is mainly due to the difference in local structure. By comparison, the color variation was not observed in pure CdS multi-branched nanostructures. The lifetime results demonstrate that the green emission originate from the recombination of free excitons. The origin of red emission is from the recombination of the dopant-induced intrinsic or extrinsic defect states. These findings provide potential applications of laser assisted anti-counterfeit label and micro-size monitors.