ZnO NANONEEDLES DEPOSITED ON CHEMICALLY ETCHED SILICON NANOWIRES VIA HYDROTHERMAL PROCESS

Abstract

ZnO nanoneedles were deposited on the chemically etched silicon nanowires via simple low temperature hydrothermal process in this paper. The morphology, structure and optical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectrum, respectively. The XRD pattern reveals a wurtzite structure for the ZnO nanoneedles. And SEM results show that the ZnO nanoneedles have a length of ∼ 400 nm with an average tip diameter of ∼ 5 nm and a base diameter of ∼ 50 nm. Meanwhile, the PL results show that the nanoneedles have wide band emission. Furthermore, the Raman results confirmed that the ultrafine nanoneedles have high surface area and surface defects. The wide band emission of ZnO nanoneedles suggests that it might serve as a potential host for white-light-emitting materials.