Sol-gel template synthesis and photoluminescence of n- and p-type semiconductor oxide nanowires

A sol-gel template technique has been put forward to synthesize single-crystalline semiconductor oxide nonowires, such as n-type SnO2 and p-type NiO. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations show that the oxide nonowires are single-crystal with average diameters in the range of 100-300 nm and lengths of over 10 mu m. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show a PL emission peak at 401 nm for n-type semiconductor SnO, and a PL emission at 407 nm for p-type semiconductor NiO nonowires, respectively. Correspondingly, the observed violet-light emission at room temperature is attributed to near-band-edge emission for SnO2 nanowires and the 3d(7)4s -> 3d(8) transition of Ni2+ for NiO nonowires.