The fabrication and optical properties of highly crystalline ultra-long Cu-doped ZnOnanowires

Abstract

We demonstrate the bulk synthesis of single crystalline Cu-doped ZnO nanowires using(CuI+ZnI2) powdersat 600 °C. These mass nanowires are characterized through x-ray diffraction, scanning electronmicroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy(TEM), selected area electron diffraction, and high-resolution TEM; they haveuniform diameters of about 65 nm and are several tens of microns in length. Thegrowth of ZnCuO nanowires is suggested for self-catalyzed vapour–liquid–solid. Inparticular, the PL spectra of these nanowires show emission peaks that strongly shiftto long wavelength with increasing Cu, and the doping quantity is found to beresponsible for the different characteristics; the PL mechanism is explained in detail.