Morphology-dependent luminescence from ZnO nanostructures — An X-ray excited optical luminescence study at the Zn K-edge

Abstract

ZnO nanostructures have been synthesized by thermal evaporation on Si substrates. It is found that the morphologies of the nanostructures are governed by growth conditions such as temperature, carrier-gas flow rate, and the nature of the substrate (with and without a catalyst). We report X-ray excited optical luminescence from ZnO nanostructures of distinctly different morphologies in the energy and time domain using excitation photon energies across the Zn K-edge. X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) study has clearly shown the morphology dependence of the ZnO optical properties. A correlation of luminescence with morphology, size, and crystallinity emerges.