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Influence of silver dopant on the morphology and ultraviolet emission in aligned ZnO nanostructures
Author(s) -
Fan Donghua,
Zhang Rong,
Wang Xianghu,
Huang Shaolong,
Peng Huiren
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201127426
Subject(s) - materials science , photoluminescence , crystallinity , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , nanostructure , dopant , scanning electron microscope , ultraviolet , transmission electron microscopy , doping , exciton , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical vapor deposition , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , chemical engineering , chemistry , composite material , physics , quantum mechanics , chromatography , engineering
Silver‐doped ZnO nanostructures were prepared by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Compared with pure ZnO, the doped samples have a lower crystallinity and a shift of the (002) diffraction peak to lower angle. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results testify the incorporation of silver (Ag) into the ZnO nanostructures with the ratio of Ag/Zn = 1.22%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs show that the introduction of Ag leads to morphological changes, and that the prepared nanostructures are single crystalline and grow along the (0002) direction. The detailed growth mechanism of the nanostructures is proposed and discussed. The room‐temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicate that the introduction of Ag can improve the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) emission, suggesting the great application prospect in UV optoelectronic devices. The temperature‐dependent PL spectra reveal that the nature of UV emission in Ag‐doped ZnO nanostructures should be related with the free‐exciton (FX) longitudinal optical (LO) phonon replicas, and the enhanced UV emission could be attributed to the increasing concentration of excitons caused by Ag doping.