SINGLE CRYSTAL ZnO NANOWIRE LUMINESCENCE SHIFTING BY NANOSTRUCTURED ZnO LAYERS

Single crystal ZnO nanowires grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) technique respectively, were in-situ and ex-situ covered with additional ZnO shell layers. Luminescence investigation revealed significant luminescence spectra shift from UV to blue emission band of the obtained structures while changing the deposited shell layer film thickness. But with no monotone variation with the deposited film thicknesses. While the luminescence changes are generally considered as being determined by the ratio between core emission lines intensity and shell 'defects' lines intensity, the strongest changes in the photoluminescence spectra were obtained in our experiments for the nanometer order shell layer thicknesses. The comparison between luminescence results and luminescence studies on 50 nm ZnO nanoparticles clusterization, together with HRTEM investigations of the ZnO shell layer suggest that the nanoparticle-nanowire interface, respectively the coupling between the ZnO single crystal core and ZnO nanostructured shell layer, might play a significant role in the luminescence spectra changes.