Vacancy structures in tin oxide nanoribbons fabricated via thermal evaporation and

post-processing were probed by luminescence spectroscopy, and interesting

properties that bode well for oxygen sensing were observed. Besides a broad

620nm band, the fabricated tin oxide nanoribbons showed a photoluminescence

band at 480nm when the measurement temperature was <100K. The blue band

appeared from nanoribbons synthesized under high oxygen pressure or annealed

under oxygen. The dependence suggested that the oxygen interstitial and vacancy

densities determine the electronic states that produce the blue band. Calculation of

the electron structures based on the density functional theory showed that

decreased oxygen vacancies or increased oxygen interstitials enhance the 480nm

band but suppress the 620nm band. The results reported here indicate that the tin

oxide nanoribbons with vacancy structures have potential applications in

luminescence-sensitive oxygen sensing.

Tin Oxide Nanoribbons with Vacancy Structures in Luminescence-Sensitive

Oxygen Sensing. H.T.Chen, S.J.Xiong, X.L.Wu, J.Zhu, J.C.Shen, P.K.Chu: Nano

Letters, 2009, 9[5], 1926-31