Synthesis and photoluminescence of ultralong amorphous SiO2nanowires catalysed by germanium

Abstract

Large scale and uniform SiO₂ nanowires have been successfully fabricated in a high-frequency induction furnace via a Ge-catalyzed vapor liquid solid (VLS) mechanism. The nanowires were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the as-synthesized SiO₂ nanowires have an amorphous structure with diameters of 20–50 nm, and lengths up to tens of micrometres. The room-temperature photoluminescence measurement of the products show that they have a blue emission band at 420 nm, reveal that the high yield, and ultralong SiO₂ nanowires might have potential applications in the future optoelectronic devices. Furthermore, the growth mechanism of the SiO₂ nanowires is discussed.