Synthesis of GaN Nanorods by a Solid‐State Reaction

Keyan Bao,Xiaodi Liu,Jie Cao,Lingling Zhu,Changzhong Chen,Wutao Mao,Liang Shi

doi:10.1155/2010/271051

Abstract

An atom‐economical and eco‐friendly chemical synthetic route was developed to synthesize wurtzite GaN nanorods by the reaction of NaNH2 and the as‐synthesized orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods in a stainless steel autoclave at 600∘C. The lengths of the GaN nanorods are in the range of 400–600 nm and the diameters are about 80–150 nm. The process of orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods transformation into wurtzite GaN nanorods was investigated by powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), indicating that the GaN product retained essentially the same basic topological morphology in contrast to that of the GaOOH precursor. It was found that rhombohedral Ga2O3 was the intermediate between the starting orthorhombic GaOOH precursor and the final wurtzite GaN product. The photoluminescence measurements reveal that the as‐prepared wurtzite GaN nanorods showed strong blue emission.

Highlights

GaN, an important III–V semiconductor with a direct band gap of 3.39 eV at room temperature, has a wide use in optical devices operating at blue and ultraviolet wavelengths and in high-temperature electronic devices [1]
We reported an economical and ecofriendly chemical synthetic method for synthesis wurtzite
Nanorods involved two steps: first, hydrothermal synthesis of orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods at 180◦ C for 12 hours, and second, preparation of GaN nanorods using NaNH2 and the as-prepared orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods as reactants in a stainless steel autoclave at 600◦ C for 5 hours

Summary

Introduction

GaN, an important III–V semiconductor with a direct band gap of 3.39 eV at room temperature, has a wide use in optical devices operating at blue and ultraviolet wavelengths and in high-temperature electronic devices [1]. Many structures of GaN such as nanowires [2,3,4,5,6], nanorods [7,8,9,10,11], nanobelts [12], and tubes [13,14,15,16,17] have been successfully synthesized. GaN nanowires were fabricated on Si substrates coated with NiCl2 thin films using chemical vapor deposition method by evaporating. GaN nanowires were synthesized via sublimation sandwich method using Ga and NH3 as starting reagents [31]. We reported an economical and ecofriendly chemical synthetic method for synthesis wurtzite. The preparation of wurtzite GaN nanorods involved two steps: first, hydrothermal synthesis of orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods at 180◦ C for 12 hours, and second, preparation of GaN nanorods using NaNH2 and the as-prepared orthorhombic GaOOH nanorods as reactants in a stainless steel autoclave at 600◦ C for 5 hours

Experimental Section

Results and Discussion

Optical Properties Measurement

Conclusions