Synthesis and characterization of well-aligned catalyst-free phosphorus-doped ZnO nanowires

Abstract

Highly crystalline P-doped ZnO nanowires were grown by physical vapour transport technique without presence of any catalysts. Grown nanowires were well aligned and had good crystallinity with evolution of preferred orientation (002). Both EDX and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) results revealed that phosphorus atoms were incorporated in the ZnO nanowires with the content of less than 1%. The XRD results confirmed an increase in lattice spacing which is attributed to substitution of P on oxygen sites. The photoluminescence spectra of grown nanowires showed a strong emission peak at 3.248eV with a shoulder at 3.184eV, corresponding with FA (free electron to acceptor) and DAP (donor–acceptor pair) levels of P-doped ZnO. The lattice spacing from HRTEM agrees with the achieved results from XRD measurement.