Fabrication of semiconducting ZnO nanobelts using a halide source and their photoluminescence properties

Semiconducting ZnO nanobelts have been fabricated by chemical vapor deposition using ZnCl2, as starting. materials. Scanning electron microscopy observations reveal that the products consist of a large quantity of beltlike nanostructures with typical lengths in the range of several tens to several hundreds of micrometers. Transmission electron microscopy images and the selected area electronic diffraction of the as-prepared ZnO nanobelts show that the nanobelts are pure, structurally uniform, and single-crystalline. One strong green-light emission peak at 5 10 nm under excitation at 300 nm was observed, The luminescence mechanism of the ZnO nanobelts may be ascribed to the existence of defects such as the singly ionized oxygen vacancies formed in the ZnO nanobelts. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.